by Kyea » Sat Feb 14, 2026 2:48 pm
Summary:
Light musings of Novice Kaelyn on her experience thus far
-----
Kaelyn stirred as the dawn light seeped through the thin curtain, caressed her cheeks, and danced on her eyelids. Early mornings like this were her favourite time, a slow coming back to her self, waking up, and spending a few minutes luxuriating in the quiet, in the short amount of time where she could enjoy peace, free of decision, of stress, of anxiety or the need to do anything but breath.
It was also a time when she wondered if she was doing the right thing!
On the one hand, she was doing what she supposedly had to do. Last year this time, she was back home in Mayene, planning the seasons market goods, the oil flavourings with her aunt, deciding which tasting profiles they would create that year, choosing and sourcing ingredients. The year before they’d created a ginger lemongrass, and garlic rosemary infusions. She'd help collect the wild ginger, then prepare the mixes. She wondered what her aunt would decide on this year, apparently playing with pine trees and resins were suppose to be popular. She hadn't put too much thought into her future, it was always just a hazy, comfortable repetition of what she'd known. Working with Pa and her aunt to collect, infuse, and sell their oil, and learning from her Ma how to make jewelry, reforming copper and silver bits, setting semi precious stones. She had brought with her some lovely hammered copper earing, partially acid etched with a blue tarnish offsetting a shine, ma had been so proud of those ones!
Well, enough of reminiscing for the moment! She'd found herself bundled off for the great white tower, as it was everyone's opinion that she needed to learn to control this channeling less she be a danger to everyone, not the least of all herself. What a bother! She'd hoped she could learn what was needed in a few months, and be back home in time to help with oiling. That was the plan, right? She'd thought so. Only now she was starting to get a feel for the work these women did. She didn't like to admit it, but her eyes were opening well beyond her small family life, and glimpsing what could be. It was encouraged to speak with any and every in the tower that was willing to speak with her. She'd spoken to a handful of Green Sisters about their work battling in the blight. She'd never been to that horrid place, but was now keenly aware that her idyllic old life only existed because others dedicated theirs to the battle against the shadow. She'd seen a blue sister passing in the halls but not had many words with them, and she's met a met a couple of yellow sisters that could do remarkable healing work, including Ashlynn Sedai, the sister she'd met on her way to Tar Valon. Sarinda Sedai of the Red had been quite helpful too, helping guide her work in the weaves, and trying to help her learn how to defend herself in the wider world. Just the other night they had a lesson on grouped combat, where it was immediately clear that dividing tasks and focusing on a specific purpose was much more effective than fighting alone. She as able to entrust navigation to her sparring partner, while she focused on weaving offensively. She most certainly needed more practice there! So while she knew her hands were missed back home, her curiosity was growing about an alternative life she'd never dreamed of, one where just maybe she could make a difference, should she be found capable of earning a shawl.
To her great surprise, she was enthralled with how intricate and complex learning about channeling had been. The intricate work of opening to Saidar, of learning to gently hold (never grasp!) the flows, and how to weave the gossamer strands with will alone. She'd never imagine there was this (nearly) invisible world, and she was only seeing through a keyhole, so to speak. It was all so incredible! She was enthralled, learning the intricate aspects of the elements. Collecting knowledge was one thing, of course trying to apply and control, or guide that knowledge was a different matter! And that didn't' even take into account the stories of what could be done in the Age of Legends!
On one level, she knew that everything was connected, and every woman who'd ever baked knew the important of balance! It was a whole new experience to see first hand how weaves of fire could be so easily volatile, how it could be tempered with earth and strengthened with small amounts of air. At least so she'd read. Earth was the grounding energy, which seemed obvious, it was the great protector, as it could absorb excess heat from fire and other energy. Air she was still learning about, but was in love with its lightness, that could be compounded into its own deadly forces. She liked working with spirit more than the others so far, there was something elegant about it. She was also finding it one of the hardest to grasp. The others were easier as their elements were known and familiar, it wasn’t hard to imaging what water or earth could do. Spirit however, was something completely intangible, and yet an important part of so many weaves, especially where connection or movement of people were concerned. While she couldn't do them yet, she'd learned that spirit was known as an element of strength, similar to earth, and was needed to form shields, could influence memory and sleep, and could be used to make a gateway! This she found an especially interesting topic, thinking how quickly one might travel between cities! Imaging how much easier it would be to sell goods that way!
A knock sounded at the door, bringing Kaelyn out of her Reverie. She quickly hopped out of bed and threw her covers over the pillow.
'Come in!' Kaelyn called.
Navani opened the door to poke her head in.
'Good morning sleepy head! Care to head down to the kitchens? I figured we could get a start on meal prep for the Gaidin in training'.
Kaelyn smiled to herself. That was certainly an unexpected, uh, bonus to being here. There was certainly no harm in seeing the progress of the young men training, they were earning the respect of all nearby for their hard work. She'd only learned the previous week that it was an unwritten 'rule' that those with access to the pantry should make food more easily available to those who trained more with their bodies. She was glad to do it.
"Yes, great idea, breakfast for us, and them! Give me just a few minutes. '
Kaylyn quickly ducked behind her changing blind, refreshed herself with weaves of water and air (those has very quickly become her favourite weaves!), and pulled on her novice dress.
Ducking back out, she smiled at Navani. She was becoming fond of this resourceful novice.
"Another studious day in the tower for us. Shall we then?".
The pair exit Kaelyn's room, off to face another day of training.
Summary:
Light musings of Novice Kaelyn on her experience thus far
-----
Kaelyn stirred as the dawn light seeped through the thin curtain, caressed her cheeks, and danced on her eyelids. Early mornings like this were her favourite time, a slow coming back to her self, waking up, and spending a few minutes luxuriating in the quiet, in the short amount of time where she could enjoy peace, free of decision, of stress, of anxiety or the need to do anything but breath.
It was also a time when she wondered if she was doing the right thing!
On the one hand, she was doing what she supposedly had to do. Last year this time, she was back home in Mayene, planning the seasons market goods, the oil flavourings with her aunt, deciding which tasting profiles they would create that year, choosing and sourcing ingredients. The year before they’d created a ginger lemongrass, and garlic rosemary infusions. She'd help collect the wild ginger, then prepare the mixes. She wondered what her aunt would decide on this year, apparently playing with pine trees and resins were suppose to be popular. She hadn't put too much thought into her future, it was always just a hazy, comfortable repetition of what she'd known. Working with Pa and her aunt to collect, infuse, and sell their oil, and learning from her Ma how to make jewelry, reforming copper and silver bits, setting semi precious stones. She had brought with her some lovely hammered copper earing, partially acid etched with a blue tarnish offsetting a shine, ma had been so proud of those ones!
Well, enough of reminiscing for the moment! She'd found herself bundled off for the great white tower, as it was everyone's opinion that she needed to learn to control this channeling less she be a danger to everyone, not the least of all herself. What a bother! She'd hoped she could learn what was needed in a few months, and be back home in time to help with oiling. That was the plan, right? She'd thought so. Only now she was starting to get a feel for the work these women did. She didn't like to admit it, but her eyes were opening well beyond her small family life, and glimpsing what [i]could [/i]be. It was encouraged to speak with any and every in the tower that was willing to speak with her. She'd spoken to a handful of Green Sisters about their work battling in the blight. She'd never been to that horrid place, but was now keenly aware that her idyllic old life only existed because others dedicated theirs to the battle against the shadow. She'd seen a blue sister passing in the halls but not had many words with them, and she's met a met a couple of yellow sisters that could do remarkable healing work, including Ashlynn Sedai, the sister she'd met on her way to Tar Valon. Sarinda Sedai of the Red had been quite helpful too, helping guide her work in the weaves, and trying to help her learn how to defend herself in the wider world. Just the other night they had a lesson on grouped combat, where it was immediately clear that dividing tasks and focusing on a specific purpose was much more effective than fighting alone. She as able to entrust navigation to her sparring partner, while she focused on weaving offensively. She most certainly needed more practice there! So while she knew her hands were missed back home, her curiosity was growing about an alternative life she'd never dreamed of, one where just maybe she could make a difference, should she be found capable of earning a shawl.
To her great surprise, she was enthralled with how intricate and complex learning about channeling had been. The intricate work of opening to Saidar, of learning to gently hold (never grasp!) the flows, and how to weave the gossamer strands with will alone. She'd never imagine there was this (nearly) invisible world, and she was only seeing through a keyhole, so to speak. It was all so incredible! She was enthralled, learning the intricate aspects of the elements. Collecting knowledge was one thing, of course trying to apply and control, or guide that knowledge was a different matter! And that didn't' even take into account the stories of what could be done in the Age of Legends!
On one level, she knew that everything was connected, and every woman who'd ever baked knew the important of balance! It was a whole new experience to see first hand how weaves of fire could be so easily volatile, how it could be tempered with earth and strengthened with small amounts of air. At least so she'd read. Earth was the grounding energy, which seemed obvious, it was the great protector, as it could absorb excess heat from fire and other energy. Air she was still learning about, but was in love with its lightness, that could be compounded into its own deadly forces. She liked working with spirit more than the others so far, there was something elegant about it. She was also finding it one of the hardest to grasp. The others were easier as their elements were known and familiar, it wasn’t hard to imaging what water or earth could do. Spirit however, was something completely intangible, and yet an important part of so many weaves, especially where connection or movement of people were concerned. While she couldn't do them yet, she'd learned that spirit was known as an element of strength, similar to earth, and was needed to form shields, could influence memory and sleep, and could be used to make a gateway! This she found an especially interesting topic, thinking how quickly one might travel between cities! Imaging how much easier it would be to sell goods that way!
A knock sounded at the door, bringing Kaelyn out of her Reverie. She quickly hopped out of bed and threw her covers over the pillow.
'Come in!' Kaelyn called.
Navani opened the door to poke her head in.
'Good morning sleepy head! Care to head down to the kitchens? I figured we could get a start on meal prep for the Gaidin in training'.
Kaelyn smiled to herself. That was certainly an unexpected, uh, bonus to being here. There was certainly no harm in seeing the progress of the young men training, they were earning the respect of all nearby for their hard work. She'd only learned the previous week that it was an unwritten 'rule' that those with access to the pantry should make food more easily available to those who trained more with their bodies. She was glad to do it.
"Yes, great idea, breakfast for us, and them! Give me just a few minutes. '
Kaylyn quickly ducked behind her changing blind, refreshed herself with weaves of water and air (those has very quickly become her favourite weaves!), and pulled on her novice dress.
Ducking back out, she smiled at Navani. She was becoming fond of this resourceful novice.
"Another studious day in the tower for us. Shall we then?".
The pair exit Kaelyn's room, off to face another day of training.