Fanfic:Alyona's Great Stair
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Yellow Ajah Weave
Alyona took a deep breath to calm herself before the test began. She knew that the test would not be easy, and that she would need every ounce of calmness that she could muster up within herself. Bracing herself, she stepped up onto the first stone, which blazed a brilliant yellow.
The torches around her flared, and instantly she was bathed in a murky yellow smoke. She waved her hands before her eyes, trying to clear away some of the smoke, but it didn't work. The number 29 hazily formed before her, bathed in a brilliant golden light. Alyona began to create the standard healing weave. Alyona did not have an ounce of talent for Healing, but she did know how to create the weave. She wove together water, air, and spirit into a net. The net was predominantly made of spirit, with water and air woven throughout it. However, before Alyona could complete the weave, she was hit with a coughing spell, brought on by the yellow smoke that filled up the area that she was standing in. The weave briefly slipped as she doubled over in pain, but she righted herself and completed the weave. The coughing subsided, and Alyona continued on. The area behind her briefly flashed yellow, and then went dark.
Yellow Ajah Step
A slight breeze ruffled Alyona's hair as she rode through the countryside. Alyona tipped back her head briefly and sighed. It had been far too long since the last time that she had been riding. Lately, she had been locked up in her room, pouring over the ancient prophecies and writings that had fascinated her for so long. While she loved her books, Alyona also loved being outdoors. She was just as likely to be found outside playing around in the dirt as she was to be found sitting in the library reading. Alyona was constantly being told that she was not "typical", something that she prided herself on.
Her musings were cut short by the sound of a woman shouting for help. Alyona raced towards the voice, and she came upon a woman sobbing over the unconscious form of a small boy. The woman's eyes widened as she saw Alyona ride into the clearing. "Please, Aes Sedai, help my son! He was playing in the trees, and I only turned my back for one moment. When I turned back around to find him, he was sprawled out on the ground, not moving. Please, you have to do something!" She fell silent, and beseeched Alyona with her eyes.
Alyona didn't know much about healing, but she felt that she had read enough, and watched her mother enough times, to be able to sustain the boy until a proper healer could take a look at him. Dismounting, she ran over to the boy, and assessed the situation. A branch had somehow caught the boy on his fall from the top of the tree, and had lodged itself into his thigh. If someone didn't take a look at the wound soon, the boy could possibly lose a limb, or worse. Alyona didn't have any ability whatsoever when it came to Healing, but she did know enough about herbs that she could prevent any infection from setting in. She pulled out various bottles filled with liquids, creams, and other things and then with a quick motion, Alyona removed the branch, and quickly cleaned out the wound with salt water from one of the little bottles in her pack. She then applied a cream that contained juniper berries, yarrow, and chamomile, in order to reduce the swelling and help his blood clot faster. She bound the wound with a clean strip of cloth and putt the boy on her horse. Alyona then took the boy back to the Tower, where proper healers could fix the boy.
Green Ajah Weave
Alyona quickly moved onto the green stone that was before her. Alyona felt better prepared this time, and tensed, ready for whatever would be thrown at her. The number 33 flashed before her, blazing with an emerald fire, and again, Alyona began to weave together fire and earth, streaked with spirit as fast as she could. The fire and earth would cause the ground to explode, and the spirit that bound the two together would set the weave off as soon as someone walked over it. The weave, when finished, would resemble a box with a ribbon wrapped around it. However, before she could finish the weave, axes and knives began racing towards her head. Suppressing the urge to shout, Alyona wove quickly, blocking out the whistling noises that accompanied the flying projectiles. As soon as the weave was finished, the weapons stopped coming at her. Alyona let out a hissing breath, and was surprised to find out that she had been holding it the entire time. Alyona continued on, and the area behind her flashed a brilliant green, and then faded to black.
Green Ajah Step
Alyona stood alone at the top of a tower, and watched with a sinking feeling as the Trollocs headed straight for the castle. However, outwardly she appeared to be a pillar of calmness in the midst of the chaos, and the people surrounding her seemed to respond to that. Knowing that one of Alyona's areas of specialization was ancient warfare, Lord Aloric came to her.
"Alyona Sedai, I would be in your debt if you would help us in the coming battle," he said, his eyes cast low. Alyona knew that Aloric hated to ask for help, so she knew that the town did not have the resources that it would need for the coming battle. She nodded her assent. "Of course. You know that you did not even have to ask. Bring your archers and line the top of the castle with them. I'll do what I need to do. Don't worry about me." Aloric raced off, shouting orders at his men.
Alyona took a deep breath, and then began weaving together fire and earth, which could explode objects upon impact. However, she knew that she wasn't as skilled when it came to fire, and she didn't know what exactly would happen. She did notice that about half of the weaves worked, and the other half just seemed to dissipate upon impact. Oh, she could have used Balefire, but she chose not to. To do so could mean death, or worse.
The group fought tirelessly until the dawn, and their efforts were rewarded. The rising sun fell upon the broken and burned bodies of Trollocs and Myrdraal. The group's shouts of victory could be heard for miles as the sun came over the horizon, and lasted well into the afternoon.
Blue Ajah Weave
Shaking her head, Alyona advanced to the next step. The light that surrounded her was now a pale sapphire color. The Lady of Justice now loomed before her, but something seemed to be off about the statue. Alyona realized that her scales were unbalanced, and Alyona knew that she would have to balance the scales in order to find out what to do next. Using Air, Alyona placed stone after stone on the scales until they balanced out. Thirteen. Alyona smiled a grim smile as she began to weave together air and fire into a cone, and set it upon the statue standing before her. The statue now looked like one of the stone columns that surrounded it. Alyona knew that many of the Blues used the Illusion weave on their travels to dangerous lands. Illusion also came in handy when trying to hide certain manuscripts and writings from prying eyes, although there were also more effective ways to do the same thing. She smiled as the world around her flashed blue, and then went dark.
Blue Ajah Step
Alyona was on one of her many travels outside of the Tower, when she decided to drop in on her brother's inn for a visit. Alyona frequently sent her family money, and her brother had asked her for a loan to start an inn, a dream of his since he had been a child. Alyona had gladly given him the money, and refused to take any money that he had tried to repay her with. So, instead of paying her back with money, Zan often took in any "strays", as he called him, that Alyona sent to him and gave them odd jobs to do around the inn until they could find better work.
Pushing open the door, Alyona smiled as she took in the rowdy common room. Zan let his customers have fun, but made sure to never let things get out of hand. As she scanned the room, her eyes widened as she saw a face that only weeks before had belonged in the novice's quarters of the Tower. However, Zalia had run away, unused to the "harsh life" of a novice, as she put it.
Alyona stalked across the room, and tapped Zalia on the shoulder. Zalia turned to face her with a pleasant smile, which was soon replaced with an expression of fear. Before the girl could even begin to explain, Alyona pointed to the back room, where Zan was working. The girl meekly followed, knowing that she had been caught. Zan explained that the girl had come to his doorstep, claiming that Alyona had sent her there for protection. He unquestioningly took her in and gave her a job. When Zan had finished speaking, Alyona turned to Zalia. "I'm sorry, Zalia, but I know that you know the rules. We just went over them in class a couple of weeks ago. I'm going to have to take you back to the Tower." The girl bowed her head, and went to retrieve her things without a fight.
Indigo Ajah Weave
The room was hot, uncomfortably hot. Lightning surrounded her, but Alyona did not even pay the slightest attention. She had seen far worse storms back on the farm at home, and faced far worse heat on her travels into the lands that surrounded the Tower. Searching, she watched for the glow of indigo light that would tell her what weave to create next. Off to the side, she saw the image of an indigo 67. Weaving as fast as she could, Alyona wove together earth and spirit into a ball, and then wrapped the ball with air, fire, and water. It was like the weave used to delve into patients before or after healing, but this weave would allow someone to assess the use of a ter???angreal, without getting hurt. The heat and the lightning faded, leaving only a cool darkness in their place.
Indigo Ajah Step
Alyona sighed as the rain continued to pour down. It had been raining for six days straight, and it did not seem as though it was going to let up any time soon. She had been sent into a small village to investigate a statue that a man claimed was bringing the village bad luck. Since no Indigos were available to make the trip, Alyona had volunteered to go. She spent a good portion of her time researching ter'angreal anyway, and everyone figured that sending Alyona would be as good as sending an Indigo.
The man came racing up to Alyona as soon as he saw the group approaching the village. "Take it! Take it! This statue is ruining our lives. It's going to flood us out if the rain doesn't stop!" He pushed the tiny statue into Alyona's hands, and backed away, muttering.
Alyona turned the statue around in her hands and laughed. Oh yes, she knew exactly what this statue was used for. As a matter of fact, Alyona had just been reading a manuscript that dealt with this statue, and others of its kind. This particular statue was used to control the rain if used properly. However, when placed in the hands of someone who didn't know what they were doing, things could go horribly wrong. She channeled threads of Air, Fire, and Water into the statue, and breathed a sigh of relief as the rains instantly let up, only to be replaced by the pleasant heat of the sun.
Brown Ajah Weave
Alyona breathed a sigh of relief as she was suddenly bathed in a pleasant brown glow. Her grin became even wider as a large, ancient book appeared in her hands. However, her grin was quickly replaced with a frown as the book began to crumble, choking her with the dust that was flying through the air. She flipped the pages as fast as she could, and watched as the number 99 appeared in the pages of the books. Doubled over, coughing, Alyona wove together a globe of fire and air, dotted with spots of spirit. When activated, whatever the weave touched would emit a soft glow, which would cease whenever deactivated. Alyona found that this weave was useful when trying to read something in a dark room, and she didn't want to disturb anyone else. The book restored itself, and the light flared brown, and then faded to black.
Brown Ajah Step
Alyona was sitting in the library, reading a particularly interesting book about something called a hanging garden, when she was rudely interrupted by Marie, one of the newer Brown sisters. "Alyona Sedai, would you please come and help me. I need to go into the basement to find a book about Talents for something that I am researching, but I don't think that I'll be able to find it by myself." Alyona cast a longing look at the book that she was holding, and mentally sighed. Marking her spot, Alyona got up and took Marie into the basement.
There were boxes everywhere, and for someone like Marie, who didn't know a thing about the organizational system used in the Tower, it would be an impossible task to find anything in the maze of boxes. However, Alyona had been down here many times, and knew exactly where the Browns kept their boxes of books. Picking her way through the boxes, Alyona stopped in front of a particularly large box in the very back. "It will more than likely be in here. Let's open the box and look." Gently opening the box, Alyona and Marie took out the books one by one. Alyona spent more time flipping through the pages and setting aside books that looked particularly interesting than actually looking for the book that Marie needed. Finally, the pair found the book at the very bottom, and then began the monumental task of putting all of the books neatly back into the box.
Grey Ajah Weave
The room was then bathed in a smoky light, and Alyona knew that her task was almost complete. She stared hard at the scroll in front of her, dismayed at tiny lettering used in the document. Alyona's eyesight was not the best, and sometimes small lettering was hard to read for her. Near the very end of the document, written in tiny lettering that almost could not be seen, was the number 42. Heaving a sigh of relief, Alyona began to weave together air and fire into a cone, the basic weave for illusion, but she then laced earth through the cone, turning it into something that would encrypt the message contained in the document. The world flashed a smoky grey color, and then went black.
Grey Ajah Step
Alyona rubbed her temples, and tried to concentrate on the two men standing before her. They had been bickering all day about a group of soldiers that had been burglarizing towns along the border. Now that the soldiers were caught, everyone was trying to figure out where to try them. General Adin wanted to try them in Andor, but General Balan wanted them to be tried in front of a military tribunal. For three hours the two went back and forth, and Alyona finally had enough. The two men knew that they could not come to a resolution by themselves, and so they had come to Alyona to solve the issue at hand.
"Please, Alyona Sedai, the men must be tried in Andor! They were burglarizing our towns, and they should face punishment here," General Adin said as calmly as he could, given the circumstances. General Balan's face turned a bright shade of red, and he practically spat out, "But Alyona Sedai, these men are soldiers. They should be tried in front of a military tribunal." Before General Adin could get another word in, Alyona held up her hand. "Bring the men here, and we will try them in the Tower, where they can make their case in front of an impartial group of people." Both men spluttered and coughed, trying to think of a reason not to bring them to the Tower. When they could find no reason, they sighed, and agreed to bring the men in the next day.
White Ajah Weave
The room around Alyona glowed with a brilliant white light that hurt Alyona's eyes. This was her last ordeal, and most certainly would not be easy. She blanched as she saw the patterns on the floor shift and reveal open space below. If she miscalculated even one inch, she could fall of into open, endless space, never to return. Alyona observed the pattern until she could make out exactly what path she needed to take. Muttering, Alyona set off to the other side, and almost fell into the void several times. She came to rest on the other side, where she could see the inscription of a white 22 on the wall. She wove together spirit, fire, and earth as fast as possible. This weave would allow the user to see through any illusions that someone else had woven. The room then faded into blackness.
White Ajah Step
Alyona glared, yes glared at the Accepted standing in front of her. The young girl was trying to argue that she did not need to write down her assignments because she already knew the answers. Trying not to yell at the girl standing in front of her, Alyona spoke.
"Well, if you already know the answers, then you shouldn't mind if I give you a quiz right now. If you can answer all of my questions, then you do not have to write down your assignments for the rest of the year. However, if you miss even one answer, then you will write down your assignments without a complaint for the rest of the year and you will report to my office, where I have notes that need to be transcribed. Understood?" The girl nodded as the rest of the class looked on at the exchange with interest.
Alyona started off with fairly easy questions that the girl answered with ease. However, as the questions became harder, the girl began to sweat. She began to stumble over her answers, and finally hung her head in defeat. "I will come to your office immediately after class, Alyona Sedai." She trudged back to her desk, and was quiet for the rest of the class.
