Fanfic:Complication
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Slippered feet kicked gently against a small box, holding eight or nine short pieces of silvery-white wood. They were all roughly a foot long, no more than three inches in diameter, and more or less the same shape. Ordered at the request of the Indigo Ajah, they were to be used to help a particular student practice on her natural talents. Thus, Elia Darrow found herself settled in a classroom, under the watchful eye of Yondis Sedai. Elia knew little about her, aside from she was Andoran. Her dress was in a style Elia didn't recognise, as was the way she wore her hair. If the Accepted had to hazard a guess, the only answer she would come up with was they were both from Shara, somehow.
"Focus," Yondis said, once again gently reminding the Accepted of her whereabouts and her task. Elia nodded in silent thanks, as she once again examined the log in her hand. Different materials produce different results, or no results if the material and the weaves aren't compatible. Different materials undergo different transformations. Different weaves produce different transformations. She was reciting the basic notes in her mind. There was a lot to learn about creating ter'angreal, but most of her successes had come about by intuition and good luck, rather than learning.
That was a mild frustration, as her successes never quite aligned with her expectations. Could she create simple ter'angreal? Yes. Could you ask her to produce a specific ter'angreal? No. So instead of getting any guidance from the Indigo sister, Yondis merely watched on as Elia experimented.
Once more she created a netting of Air around the log, with evenly separated out gaps. A lot of what she did seemed to include this basic net design. Interspersed in the gaps were thin lines of Fire, the different strengths of the two elements matching her own strengths with them. She shrunk the completed weave down. Air forced the log into a regular shape, whilst the Fire turned the material glassy. Finally there was a flash of saidar, and again she had a basic rod with which to work on. Yondis nodded in approval, although this was the fifth time today she had produced such an item. The rest lay near to the Indigo sister so that the different ter'angreal wouldn't interfere with each other.
The next step was one she hadn't figured out yet. She spun a ring of Fire equal in size to the rod's circumference. In the centre of the Fire, a reservoir of Water was formed. The water was still at first, but then Fire and Water started to rotate, until small sparks shot out from the Fire, and a whirlpool swirled in the centre. With deftness, she wrapped the maelstrom in a weave of Air at the same time as she pushed the disc into one end of the rod. Once more, saidar flashed as the near completed ter'angreal absorbed the Power.
The final step, Elia was more confident about. She entwined two flows, one of Air and one of Spirit, and weaved them directly into the body of the ter'angreal. It wasn't a proper weave, but Yondis Sedai had suggested it, so the Accepted obeyed. There was no flash when she stopped channelling, and no sign whether she had channelled enough or too little. Elia turned over the ter'angreal, seeing nothing different about this one than the other five she had made. Attempted to make. They all had their flaws, and she didn't see why this one would be any different.
Yondis rose from her chair, and eased the ter'angreal out of Elia's hand. "Let's see what you have made, child." The Indigo sister had been surrounded by saidar throughout the lesson, as a precaution, but now she channelled into the rod. There was a pause, then black ash spewed forth from one end of the rod, covering several of the desks and part of the wall with grey dust. Elia grimaced, and not for the mess that had been made. The Accepted couldn't verbalise why, but she knew that this basic idea would make something spectacular.
Elia reached under the table, and retrieve another piece of wood. The box was half-empty now. She wished she was already done. Whatever Yondis expected wasn't going to happen on the ninth attempt nor on the nineteenth. "Focus." Elia glanced at the Aes Sedai. Yes, focus. She had no choice but to continue, at any rate. She may as well try.
