Fanfic:Dreamwalking Theory is a Bloody Bore
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Part 1
Amadie's hands were clasped in her lap, fingers laid carefully on the bandages that wrapped her palms. They're just scratches, she tried to tell herself, but the other part of her mind, the practical side, piped up scratches that showed up in my sleep.
She could remember the dream as clearly as any event in the waking world. She had been running through a forest -and Light, what a forest it had been- with something chasing after her. Her heart had been pounding fit to burst, drenched with sweat and panting with terror and exhaustion. Finally she had turned and faced her pursuer, throwing her hands up to protect against flying claws. They hit and bit deep, before her foot connected with the thing's groin and it went flying. Somehow, she had known she was dreaming; she closed her eyes, and willed herself awake...only to find blood on her sheets.
The next morning, she had told a Yellow that she had hurt herself while tending to the garden, and the Asha'man had given her a brief lecture, then bound her hands rather than Healing them- a minor penance, for the minor crime of inattentiveness, he claimed. She had left- and gone straight to the Mistress of Novices. Who else would know why she had obtained real injuries from a dream?
That redoubtable woman had listened to her story with an impassive face, pulled a piece of paper from the drawer of her desk, and written a quick note. Now Amadie stood outside a classroom door, waiting for someone named Sydias to teach her the theory behind an ability called "Dreamwalking" that the Mistress of Novices believed she might possess.
The door opened, and the man waved her in to join the rest of his students. She went in quietly, and arranged herself in the middle back, pulled out pen and paper, and began to take notes as he spoke. When he paused for a moment, Amadie flexed her hand; the gouges were stiffening, and it hurt to write. Thankfully, Sydias called on her to speak, so she stood.
"My name is Amadie Laine, of Arad Doman," she said clearly. "I am interested in this...Dreamwalking...because I had an interesting experience last night, and woke up with the wounds from my dream still evident in my skin." She raised her hand and waggled her fingers to draw attention to the bandage. "The Mistress of Novices believes I may have the ability to Dreamwalk, and wants me to explore it as far as my ability will allow."
She sat down. It was still very strange to think that dreams could be "real."
Part 2
As instructed, Amadie found her way back to the classroom the following week. The gashes on her hands had healed, thank the Light, but she had had a dream of a huge fire two days before, and when she woke, her face still burned from the heat. That, too, faded, but she no longer questioned the need for training.
She found her seat, and listened quietly to the lecture. When Sydias pulled two objects out of a trunk and announced them to be ter'angreal, she couldn't help but add her voice to the collective gasp of interest that the entire classroom gave. Those objects allowed normal people to enter this...World of Dreams? How? What did they do?
With poorly concealed impatience, she waited her turn to touch them. To her disappointment, holding them felt no different than holding anything else made of stone; no tingles, no odd feelings, no sudden transportations to another world. Just a curious stone on a leather thong, that would not have been out of place in any well to do merchant's curio box- save for the odd way the colors shifted beneath the surface.
Sydias continued to lecture, and Amadie continued to take notes. How curious that there were now so many ways to enter a world that most had assumed was merely a legend only a few decades before!
When dismissed, she gathered her things and departed, lost in thought.
Part 3
On the dawn of the third day of lessons on Dreamwalking, Amadie was relieve to wake with no further injuries. She had spent the night in insanely varied flight, from valley to mountain to city to sea, at speeds that would surely kill a living being. Despite having no physical evidence of her experience, she could not shake the feeling that it had been real. Her memories were too vivid.
She settled herself into her seat, noticing that today the lights were significantly dimmer than on the other two. Would they actually enter Tel'aran'rhiod? No- Sydias had said this lesson would be about the Wolfkin...whatever those were. She got out pen and paper, and waited.
A few moments later, Sydias introduced a woman named Lucretia. Although Amadie could not have verbalized why, something put her off about the woman. She was too quiet, and her yellow eyes wandered the room without actually making contact with anyone. To make it even more uncomfortable, when she spoke it was in the flat monotone of someone who wanted to be anywhere other than her present location.
Amadie listened carefully nonetheless, her carefully scripted notes joining those from the last session. By the time Sydias indicated they were free to ask questions, she had a double handful- most of which she was quite certain would never get answered.
"What did you mean by Thought Pictures?" she asked.
"I thought I made it clear that wolves do not speak like two-leggers do, girl," the strange woman responded. "They think in pictures, images, concepts- their very communication is much like human dreams."
"Oh." Amadie fell silent, but after a few minutes, raised her hand again. The woman looked at her sharply, and she involuntarily drew back.
"You said you are a man-wolf.....can Wofkin actually become wolves?"
"No." The tone was flat, the refusal to elaborate absolute. Curious!
"And....when you go into the Wolf Dream...can you fly?" She wasn't sure what made her ask that. Why would wolves, or wolfkin, be able to fly? Why was I flying? I don't have wings.
"Yes, we can. Though wolves do not have feathers, and prefer to remain firmly on the ground, so it is an infrequent event." She was surprised at the serious answer, she had thought to be mocked or ignored.
Part 4
Three lessons had passed and still Sydias had not taken them into the World of Dreams. She supposed she shouldn't be surprised- theory and practice were frequently kept well apart when it came to channeling, so why wouldn't the same apply to something as fascinating as Dreamwalking?
She listened, and watched, and kept her mouth shut, as he talked about this...Dreamscape. The more she learned about Dreamwalking, the more it felt like she knew nothing at all about the world around her...and the more she wondered how it was that she had survived her youth with such a dangerous world lurking in her very bed.
The orbs in that illusion were oddly compelling. She wanted to examine them, but...it wasn't real. When would she get to see it for real?
"How do you get to the Dreamscape?" She asked curiously. "I've never seen anything like that before."
"If you have a Talent for Dreamwalking, once you have received sufficient training your teacher will show you how," Sydias said. "It is not a thing that newcomers to Tel'aran'rhiodshould experiment with on their own."
She thought about that for a second. "You said if you feel strongly about someone, you can get trapped in their dream. All of the orbs in that illusion looked the same- how do you tell them apart?"
He seemed surprised that she had actually thought out her questions. "When you are in the dreamscape, you are not only able to see the orbs, you are also able to," he seemed to search for words, "feel them in other ways. People you know...or even people you know of...will resonate with you."
She nodded- that made a weird sort of sense. Sort of like when she saw just the back of a passing person in a crowd, and knew it was a friend from the way he stood. "One last question, please," she said. He nodded acceptance. "You did not say, but I have gathered, that it is possible to enter anyone's dream, and affect them. That would seem to present a rather large threat to the world's dignitaries. Is there a way to prevent....unwanted parties...from intruding on your dreams?"
He smiled, ever so slightly. "Yes. It is possible. There is a specific type of Ward that can be taught- will be taught, if you turn out to have Talent."
She did. She already knew it. She sat back, and let the other novices speak.
Part 5
There was a small spot on Amadie's skirt, probably from doing dishes after breakfast that morning. She occupied herself with staring at it. This lesson was disturbing to her; the scars on her hands twinged every time Sydias said the word "nightmare." She was certain one of those had been what caused the wound.
Even the minor nightmares seemed dire. The idea of being trapped washing dishes, or scrubbing floors, or counting coins until her eyes drooped and her fingers ached....was not a fun one. The bad ones....she squeezed her eyes shut, remembering the hopeless sense of danger that had consumed her as she ran through the forest that night five weeks before.
While the other students asked questions, she hastily scribbled down her notes on what he had said. It wouldn't do to let her fear get in the way of learning how to avoid such circumstances in the future.
Notes completed, she waited patiently for her turn. "What causes the nightmares?" She asked.
"A person's extreme fear can cause them," Sydias said, but his tone gave away the half-lie.
"And...?"
"And a Talented Dreamwalker can create them, usually with malicious intent," he said reluctantly. "It is a thing we teach Dreamwalkers here, but only so they understand the mechanics. Typically, the only ones willing to make that kind of mischief are Darkfriends and worse."
"That's bloody awful," she said without thinking, and he nodded his agreement. "But how does one "make" a nightmare?"
"Haven't you been listening?" he demanded irritably. "The World of Dreams is malleable. With a strong enough mind you can alter the world however you choose, with the understanding that most of the time, the effects will disappear when you wake."
"Most of the time?" She pounced on it.
"That's a question for a more advanced class, child," he said, and his calm veneer returned, shutting her out. "Suffice to say there are occasions where things done in the World of Dreams can affect the waking world."
She sat, and began chewing on a fingernail.
Part 6 / Test
The class would end with a written essay? Disappointment warred with disbelief. A month and a half of classes, and she had not set foot in Tel'aran'rhiod on purpose even once. Despite the fact that she knew it made no logical sense to take an entire classroom into such a dangerous place at the same time, she had hoped against hope that she would get a glimpse.
With a sigh, she looked at the board, trying to decide which topic seemed the most interesting. After a moment, she decided to write about ter'angreal.
Essay:
Ter'angreal are objects of the Power that perform a specific task. Certain Ter'angreal are used by those who do not have a Talent for Dreamwalking, in order to accessTel'aran'rhiod.
There are two types- one that requires the user to channel Spirit, and one that can simply be worn against the skin. For those that require Spirit, a constant flow of the One Power must be supplied in order to maintain contact with the World of Dreams. Be aware that using these ter'angreal when near to other, similar objects can cause unexpected problems, up to and including destruction of the ter'angreal and injury to the user.
There are people who can enter the World of Dreams without assistance. This group includes people with a Talent for Dreamwalking, and the Wolfkin.
