Blocked, Part Six: A Drowned Rat

[Amarea]

Summary:
After washing dishes and restocking the larder for Eliyana Sedai, Amarea is called by a scribe to meet with Catisune, another Sitter for the Brown Ajah. Catisune drills Amarea on the nuances of her wilder block that she has been able to tease out so far, and summarily proceeds to push the boundaries of what Amarea knows about her block and herself. Through the process, Amarea has an embarrassing experience with a bucket of water, but gains valuable clues into her abilities with the One Power, including a likely affinity for Earth and hints of a possible Talent for sensing the connections between things and their locations.

POV: Amarea
Main characters: Amarea, Catisune

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Study of the Brown Ajah
Tall, arched windows in the northern wall open to a balcony, providing a
choice view of the Erinin as it flows south from the Borderlands. Half the
seating in the room is drawn up around the windows, showing that the
occupants appreciate the panorama. The remaining seats are drawn up in
circles of six to eight, allowing Brown Sisters to discuss the furtherance
of knowledge, or new theories in an informal atmosphere. Colorful wall
hangings depicting still lifes decorate the pale white walls.
[ obvious exits: S ]
A large desk made of fine, thick wood stands across the room from here.
Catisune Sedai is standing here.
A silver-haired Aes Sedai sits here, reading.
A Brown Sister is here, frowning pensively.
Danelle Sedai, sitter for the Brown Ajah stands here deep in thought.

Amarea curtseys before Catisune.

Amarea shifts her pose and is now standing here, pulling a tray of freshly prepared food.

Amarea hurries into the study with a practiced curtsey, pulling a tray with plates of food, a few cups of tea, a bottle of wine, and some freshly baked bread.

Catisune is seated in the plush chair she typically favors by the Ajah study windows. She smiles vaguely at Amarea.

Amarea beams a broad smile from ear to ear.

Amarea says 'Beggin' your pardon, Aes Sedai, the scribe caught me just as I was finishing a task for Eliyana Sedai to restock the larder. I thought you might want some refreshments, but truth be told, I wasn't sure what you might like.'

Amarea gently sets all of the food on the desk before Catisune.

Amarea puts a bread filled with raisins and nuts in a desk.
Amarea puts a bread filled with raisins and nuts in a desk.
Amarea puts a goblet of Cairhien wine in a desk.
Amarea puts a plate of roast potatoes and turnips in a desk.
Amarea puts a plate with bread and green veined cheese in a desk.
Amarea puts a cup of strong black tea in a desk.
Amarea puts a cup of strong black tea in a desk.

Catisune's smile is brief, though it does crinkle the corners of her large, watery eyes 'You have erred on the side of excess, which is to be lauded in this particular circumstance. Please, child, join me.'

Amarea nods in agreement.

Catisune looks at Amarea.

Amarea finishes her preparations by grabbing a large, heavy bucket filled with water and sets it carefully beside her. She removes the flour-covered apron from around her neck and sits down in a chair near the windows across the Sitter.

Catisune observes the Novice's practiced maneuvers with benign disinterest 'Tell me, child, what is your name again?'

Amarea says 'It is Amarea, Catisune Sedai. Amarea Helsen, from Lugard.'

Amarea adds, 'I do assume right that you are Catisune Sedai? The scribe said your name, but I'm afraid we haven't had the chance to meet yet.'

Catisune says 'Your assumption has not led you astray! I am indeed Catisune Sedai of the Brown Ajah.'

Amarea smiles happily.

Catisune begins rifling through the papers, tossing some onto the floor as she does.

Catisune has created quite the haphazard pile by the time she identifies the object of her quest.

Catisune skims the paper she made such a show of locating 'And you are Amarea, yes, yes. The wilder?'

Catisune does not imbue the word 'wilder' with the same distaste others might.

Amarea 's cheeks still tinge slightly red at the phrasing, but she nods. 'Aye, Catisune Sedai, you have the right of it. Sheriam Sedai thinks I've been channeling since my thirteenth nameday, only I didn't know it, and couldn't control it.'

Catisune at last consigns the paper in her hands to the fate of the others now strewn about the floor near her chair 'Well, tell me about this block, dear.'

Amarea nods and begins to explain. Her words sound fairly practiced on this particular topic. 'Through help from Aelrena Sedai and Accepted Aleera, I've learned that I can only touch the Source or see the One Power being channeled when I am within three paces of a volume of water sufficiently large to douse a small campfire. Hence the bucket here.'

Amarea says 'But if there are open flames around, or weaves of Fire, the amount of water I need has to be higher. The bucket isn't enough for me when that happens, it would seem.'

Catisune cants her head to one side, ever the bird. 'And how progress your attempts to remediate this deficiency?'

Catisune considers this carefully. The tell-tale nimbus of Saidar surrounds her as she weaves dexterous flows of air to tidy her mess of papers.

Amarea replies, perhaps a touch sullenly, 'Not as well as I would like, Aes Sedai. Alison Sedai tried pretty hard to scare me into it. A novice, Trajega I think, tried tricking me by swapping buckets with me with one that didn't have water, but that didn't seem to do the trick. And Chloro Sedai had me practicing getting more used to fire by staring into a candle flame, and then trying to light it myself with the water out of reach.'

Catisune taps her lip thoughtfully.

Amarea says 'Honestly, so far I'm just glad that I was able to get the water to work. I was here for days before I could even learn how to touch the Source intentionally, and to start learning how to channel. I was worried Sheriam Sedai would think I wasn't fit for the Tower and kick me out.'

Amarea looks down, blushing a little more.

Catisune says 'It is your potential we are concerned with, not your self-imposed limitations.'

Amarea nods, hints of a smile showing like a sun behind the clouds. 'Sheriam Sedai told me that I'm pretty strong. Not, like, as strong as everyone, but enough that some day, I could maybe actually reach the shawl, she thinks.'

Amarea beams a broad smile from ear to ear.

Amarea rambles a little, 'I really came to be tested on a whim, just an idle fancy that I could be a hero like in the stories, when I was visiting my aunt in Alindaer. I was pretty shocked when Kitiara Sedai I could actually learn.'

Catisune continues, if drily, 'Of course it may be such that you are set from the Tower with enough gold to keep you for a year if you cannot overcome this hurdle. But let us burn that bridge when we get to it, yes.'

Amarea freezes for a moment, eyes widening slightly. She gulps. 'Yes, Aes Sedai.'

Amarea says 'Chloro Sedai said she thinks I won't be able to be tested in the Arches to become an Accepted until I can figure it out. So I'm doubling my efforts to get to the bottom of it, if I can.'

Catisune judges Amarea as an Innkeeper might the weight of a coin purse 'Chloro Sedai is wise to observe such. Do you think you will be able to overcome this obstacle until you face its origin?'

Amarea quiets herself for a moment, tapping a finger on her lip in thought. She pulls out a tooled leather book and begins to flip through it. 'Maybe, but maybe not.'

Amarea stops using a tooled leather book.

Amarea says 'This is a book Aelrena Sedai lent me. It covers some of the known theories on why blocks develop, and has some historical accounts on what those blocks were for various wilders, and for those who overcame them, what worked for them.'

Amarea says 'Some of these women were quite confident in where their fears came from, likely linked to the first time they channeled, or at least the first most memorable time. Especially around the point of no return, where a woman either figures it out or dies. But some of them broke their block without even knowing where it came from.'

Catisune says 'My Sisters in the Red would beat it out of you. Perhaps in the Gray a clever trick--I do think the Novice Trajega's instinct was not a misdirected one.'

Amarea gulps.

Catisune says 'Have you spoken to any other wilders in the Tower?'

Catisune muses 'There was a girl recently . . . her name escapes me. Silly little bit, but she did break her block.'

Amarea says 'Only briefly in passing. Accepted Elmitsu said she had a block and had figured out how to break it, but Aelrena Sedai told me to work with Aleera. I think she was a bit...upset with Elmitsu about something?'

Amarea blushes furiously.

Catisune's eyes evidence recognition in their momentary narrowing 'Yes. Elmitsu. I recall hers also involving fire. A boy? Perhaps several boys.'

Catisune amends 'Upon reflection, perhaps she is not the most suitable tutor.'

Amarea chuckles politely.

Amarea says 'I think I heard a rumor that she had to be holding a boy's hand.'

Amarea says 'Or hugging or kissing him maybe? I heard a few rumors there.'

Amarea blushes furiously.

Catisune does not look scandalized, though she inclines her head in acknowledgement. The bun atop her head sways dangerously.

Catisune says 'Have you experimented with water in its different forms?'

Amarea admits, 'Only a little, with Aleera. We tried standing outside when it was snowing, and again when it was raining, before moving onto increasingly larger containers of water, before I figured out the bucket was the smallest that worked.'

Catisune says 'What if the bucket were filled with a similar amount of ice?'

Amarea thinks really hard.

Catisune again embraces the Source, weaving deft flows of water and air which plunge the contents of Amarea's bocket into arctic relief.

Amarea says 'Huh. I'm not sure. I don't think I've tried that yet.'

Catisune says 'I have frozen your bucket.'

Catisune says 'Can you unfreeze it?'

Amarea startles as she watches the water freeze before her eyes. As the Air and Water flows pass into the bucket, freezing it, the glow of saidar suddenly vanishes around the Brown sister in Amarea's eyes.

Amarea frowns.

Amarea leans forward, studying the bucket. She appears to be willing something to happen. After a minute, she sighs. 'No, Aes Sedai, the Source eludes me now.'

Catisune wields similarly fine threads of fire to melt the contents of the Novice's bucket.

Amarea flinches ever so slightly at the sight of Fire, but she steels herself and watches in earnest. As the ice is just about fully melted, the glow of saidar shines around Amarea.

Amarea feels the flows of saidar coursing through her body.

Catisune does this with refinement so that the ice thaws gradually.

Amarea nods thoughtfully.

Catisune says 'Now stand.'

Amarea stands up.

Catisune also rises from the plush chair upon which she sat like a throne to approach the Novice.

Catisune moves toward the windows.

Catisune says 'Now, walk toward me slowly.'

Amarea frowns but does so, walking at a slow, measured pace. 'Like this?'

Catisune says 'How far can you travel from the bucket before your sense of Saidar diminishes?'

Amarea says 'About three paces is the most I've been able to do so far. I could look out at the river in Southharbor, but unless I was right by the water's edge, it wouldn't work.'

Amarea demonstrates, slowly walking away from the bucket towards Catisune. At two paces, the glow...flickers intermittently, as if she is straining. Right around three paces, the glow vanishes altogether.

Catisune says 'Now, step backward toward the bucket but do not face it.'

Amarea nods, a look of concentration on her face. She takes a few steps backward, ever so slightly, and right around three paces, the glow starts to flicker and then shine back into existence around her.

Amarea feels the flows of saidar coursing through her body.

Amarea says 'It seems from what Aleera and I found that it's not a necessity to see it, but it's about needing to know that it is there. The comfort, I guess, of having access to it.'

Catisune moves behind the Novice so that she is also out of view.

Amarea says 'In one case, I thought I heard something and thought perhaps someone or something had knocked it over, and I lost the Source, even though the water was still there.'

Catisune says 'I am going to move the bucket now.'

Catisune's flows of air are as thin as lace as they move the bucket closer to Amarea.

Catisune says 'I have moved the bucket. Can you still sense saidar?'

Amarea sighs as the glow dims at those words, almost losing the Source. 'It's almost like the certainty or uncertainty of whether it's there is the problem.'

Catisune says 'Yes. In fact, I moved the bucket closer to you.'

Amarea says 'I think...I sensed it, Aes Sedai. When I am touching the Source, sometimes I can feel where things are, almost intuitively. Or maybe I heard it, I don't know.'

Amarea is still looking away, but the frown is 'audible' in her voice.

Amarea says 'Sheriam Sedai said the Locate weaves came incredibly naturally to me, and I've been able to sense things much farther away than she expected for a novice. I wonder if that means anything with this.'

Amarea blushes furiously.

Catisune says 'Perhaps you have a Talent.'

Catisune says 'Once you overcome your block, I shall take you Delving and we shall see how far this intuition of yours stretches.'

Amarea jerks her head over her shoulder to look at Catisune at that comment, then looks forward again, blushing. 'Sorry, Aes Sedai, I wasn't sure if I could look again or not. Only, what is Delving? I've only heard a little about Talents.'

Catisune says 'Delving can mean two things, actually, though both can manifest as Talents--our more common understanding refers to the use of the One Power to determine illness and injury.'

Amarea nods thoughtfully.

Catisune says 'We do not see the second definition as often in this Tower, for women typically do not favor earth.'

Catisune says 'Now, stare straight again.'

Catisune continues to levitate the bucket behind Amarea.

Catisune says 'Understand that I will move the bucket closer to you and further from you. I want you to feel the water.'

Amarea looks forward, eyes fixed on the window out into the harbor. 'Yes, Aes Sedai.'

Catisune suspends the bucket approximately two paces behind Amarea 'Where is the bucket now?'

Amarea still has the glow of the Source around her. She closes her eyes, straining. Seemingly without realizing it, wisps of predominantly Earth and some Air and Spirit begin to form around her. She points her hand over her shoulder, finger aimed at the bucket. 'It's...there.'

Catisune shifts the bucket backwards in the air approximately two inches.

Catisune says 'And now?'

Amarea 's finger trails to follow the bucket, which is still within three paces of the novice. 'Light,' she murmurs to herself, 'how do I know where it is? That's odd. It's just a bucket.'

Catisune now directs the bucket out of Amarea's three pace radius, though she does so slowly, silently, so as not to betray any evidence to the Novice's Saidar-enhanced hearing.

Catisune says 'And now?'

Amarea 's finger continues to trail after the bucket, eyes still faced away. As it floats away, the flows around her thin and then vanish, and the Source fades away as well. 'Odd,' she repeats. 'It's like I could pinpoint it on a map, as long as it was within three paces of me. But once it passed beyond that, everything went away.'

Catisune moves the bucket directly over Amarea's head, though it remains out of sight if the Novice's eyes are trained on the River Erinin below.

Catisune says 'And now?'

Amarea stares out the window, seemingly oblivious to the bucket of water. She shakes her head. 'I'm trying, but I don't know where it is. I can't tell.'

Amarea sighs.

Catisune turns the bucket so that it spills its contents unceremoniously onto the Novice's head.

Catisune says 'And now?'

Amarea shrieks, leaping into the air. She sputters, spitting out water that has poured into her mouth. She quite resembles a drowned rat.

Catisune's face remains impassive, a true distillation of an Aes Sedai's trademark calm.

Amarea turns around, a look mixed with shock and indignation on her face. 'C-Catisune Sedai!' Any other
words beyond that elude her, as does the Source.

Catisune allows the Novice a few moments to sputter in her discontent before weaving thin flows of fire and air to dry the carpet and the girl's dress.

Catisune taps her lip thoughtfully.

Catisune says 'I think this was very productive, Amarea.'

Amarea gives Catisune a level look, but has the common sense to hold her tongue. After a minute of nervously brushing her hands against her dress, and checking to make sure Aelrena Sedai's book was not damaged in the process, she adopts a pensive look. 'Well, I suppose it was, in a way.'

Catisune cants her head to one side 'What have you learned today?'

Amarea replies with a smirk before she can stop herself, 'That you are a formidable woman.' She blinks, blushes a deep crimson, and then curtsies again with an added, 'Aes Sedai.' After another moment of reflection, she adds, 'It seems that my block, and the distance to the water, is limited by my knowledge of where the water is, but not by sight. If I can already touch the Source, it seems I can sense when the bucket moved away. But not when it returned when I was not embracing it.'

Catisune's lips belie the very suggestion of mirth, tugged as they are at the corners 'Important lessons, all, and ones that I hope will serve you.'

Catisune says 'I am happy to speak to you again soon about this block. I do so love a good puzzle.'

Amarea nods and replies meekly, 'I do too, Catisune Sedai. I hope so too.'

Catisune shows her teeth in what may pass for a smile.

Amarea smiles nervously and nods, then stands a little taller. 'I have to figure this out, Aes Sedai. I must. I want to become an Accepted, and an Aes Sedai some day.'

Catisune gestures vaguely toward the Ajah study doors 'You may wish to do something about your hair.'

Catisune attended the carpet and the Novice's dress with her thin flows of fire and air but stopped there.

Amarea blushes and nods.

Amarea says 'Beggin' your pardon, Aes Sedai, but is there anything else you need from me? Or anything else I can do to help you today?'

Catisune says 'No, but I am pleased with your progress today. I shall let your teachers know. Go and do good works in the Light, dear.'

Amarea beams a broad smile from ear to ear.

Catisune says 'And don't forget your bucket.'

Amarea says 'I hope you do try the bread there. It's my own recipe. Sheriam Sedai thinks that I picked up some trick as a wilder that allows me to bake it just right, so I know it's good.'

Catisune says 'Soemthing about the steam, I'm certain.'

Amarea picks up her bucket, much easier now that it is empty, and offers a final curtsey before making her way to the door, her golden curls matted against her neck and dress.

Catisune eyes the bread suggestively as she drifts toward the desk.

Amarea curtseys before Catisune.

[Evaine]

Amarea: 2 qps
Catisune: 2 qps

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(This log made me chuckle. I could feel the anticipation building as the bucket got closer and closer.)