Netland Towers Library: The 100 Weaves

The 100 Weaves
by Madienne Serafina

“I know the weaves” Madienne insisted as she sat down carefully on her bed. Ameline simply smiled and shrugged; it was something they had told one another time and time again. Knowing them and pulling them off when being distracted were two different things altogether, though.

“Another try?” Ameline asked.

“No, I should really get some sleep.” Replied the Cairhienin. She liked to have company more than ever, but there were limits. Aes Sedai did not sleep cheek by jowl with one another, but still it took a mantra of reminding herself she was safe to get any rest at night.

There was a knock at the door. Madienne looked at Ameline questioningly, and opened it only to find the Mistress of Novices herself. Her heart stuck in her throat.

“You are summoned to be tested for the shawl of an Aes Sedai. The Light keep you whole and see you safe.” The woman turned and left without another word. Madienne turned to Ameline with her mouth agape and her heart back in her chest with a vengeance. Her friend mouthed words of comfort and urged her on; they had done everything they could. Still, she was terrified. It was too soon.

They snaked their way down through the levels of the Tower, down corridors barely used, rooms wrapped in dusty cloths to preserve the furniture, tapestries few and far between. The braziers were all lit, but the lack of windows seemed to give the darkness the gall to press on them as they went lower, and lower. Lower than that room, so carefully avoided, which had been so far into the Tower.

The Mistress of Novices stopped in front of a suspicious set of double doors, flows of air pushing them open easily. Madienne followed the Mistress of Novices inside, taking note of her surroundings. An Aes Sedai represented each Ajah, all around a large oval ring which had to be a ter'angreal. There was no way the structure could stand like that otherwise.

“Attend,” the Aes Sedai said. “You come in ignorance, Madienne Serafina. How would you depart?”

“In knowledge of myself,” Madienne replied. Accepted learning the 100 weaves knew the words by heart, but it terrified her all the same.

“For what reason have you been summoned here?”

“To be tried.”

“For what reason should you be tried?”

“So that I may learn whether I am worthy.”

“For what would you be found worthy?”

"To wear the shawl," Madienne finished. With those words said she began undressing, shaking in the chilly room. The pale scars on her arm made her quite self conscious; she wondered if there were more she could not see. The Mistress of Novices continued, "Therefore I will instruct you. You will see this sign upon the ground." She channelled and a fiery six-pointed star, comprising two overlapping triangles, appeared in midair. One of the sisters embraced Saidar and a weave touched the back of her head. "Remember what must be remembered.” The Mistress of Novices continued. "When you see that sign, you will go to it immediately at a steady pace, neither hurrying nor hanging back. Only then may you embrace the Power. The weaving required must be done immediately and you may not leave that sign until it is completed." "Remember what must be remembered," murmured the sister. "When the weave is completed, you will see that sign again. You must go at a steady pace still, with no hesitation," said the Yellow sister. "Remember what must be remembered." "One hundred times, you will weave, in the order you have been given and in perfect composure," said the Mistress of Novices. "Remember what must be remembered," came the voice again, and Madienne felt a weave settle into her. The seven sisters sat about the ter'angreal, channeling an intricate weave of all the different elements into it. The ring began to glow a white brighter than any other; the Accepted winced, but knew she had to remain composed. She had to become an Aes Sedai. The ring began to rotate upon its unlikely steady base, and she walked into it. --- Madienne stood in the Library at the White Tower, wearing not a stitch. She looked down at herself and wondered why she was naked in a public place, but did not let it bother her. Looking around, she was in the same chamber where Fahima had attacked her. Of course, this did not bother her either. On the table ahead of her sat a lone book. On it was a red star. The Accepted made her way there, unhurriedly.

She heard shrieks down one of the aisles. As Madienne walked past, a group of dizzy Novices thought to embarrass her. “Look at her! She's so... short, she looks like a young girl!”

“I thought she was my sister, for a moment. It's her ninth naming day soon.”

“Did you hear about what happened to her? It was a man... he was her first, and she liked the knives.”

And so on. Madienne allowed herself a blush... she couldn't help it, to be fair, but she never broke her stride, and only regarded the girls with a placid expression. With one hand on the star, Madienne began the first weave. Talking about that man could not faze her now, not when she was so close.

“Why is she naked, anyway?”

“Maybe she wants to be your pillow friend, Niemia!”

“Oh, Light! That skinny thing?”

Madienne resumed with the weave unhurriedly, concentrating steadily. Once the weave was completed, the girls turned and hurried out a door Madienne had not noticed before. It stood open, and a red star was chalked above the doorframe. The Cairheinin made her way to the star sedately, heading through with no worries...

She had completed forty-four weaves, and had fifty-six to go. She was in a stone room then, empty spare a crackling fireplace with a portrait of a squat man above it. On the far wall was a red star, etched into the stone itself. The room was longer than it was wide. As Madienne made her way over, she was suddenly aware of the high roof getting not quite so high. The walls to either side seemed closer, as well. Calm and sedate she reminded herself, her pace unhurried. The ceiling pushed against the portrait, knocking it onto the floor. There was a scraping sound as it was pushed closer to her.

Once she reached the star, Madienne channeled. A weave of Fire then Earth, then Fire followed by Water. The walls she could touch with both hands, and the low ceiling would have felled a taller man. Or woman, for that matter. When the weave was completed, the picture had crunched between the two walls and Madienne felt cold stone gently pressing against her head. Her heart beat rapidly, but it was over. At the other end of the now narrow corridor, an archway appeared with the red star above it. The Accepted made her way there unhurriedly, ducking her head ever so slightly.

Ninety-nine weaves had been completed, and only one was left. Madienne blinked at the smooth marble wall behind her, but paid it little mind. How she got there, and how she had earned the many scratches down her right arm was a mystery to her. She was stood upon a sloped marble balcony, with a wall behind her and but one route out, across a wooden bridge. At the other end of the bridge stood a grassy island with a huge oak tree. Closer than that, a flag with a red star stood in the middle of the bridge. Madienne walked towards the bridge, her gaze meeting the edge of the balcony. Both the balcony and the island with the oak tree stood unsupported, and below she saw only clouds.

I've never been afraid of heights She told herself stoutly, putting her foot into the first wooden plank. As if on cue, the sky began to darken. The looming clouds overhead grew ominously grumpy, and the rolling of thunder was soon followed by steady rain. The bridge swayed in the sudden wind as Madienne made her way across, as steady as she could with both hands on the ropes either side. More steps, and the flag crept closer. It flapped in the wind, and it was a small wonder it didn't simply fall off.

Once at the flag, Madienne began to channel the final weave. As soon as she embraced Saidar, a bolt of lightning struck at the oak tree; the thing shattered, debris flying, the stump of an oak on fire. A wall of Air protected her from a stray branch, and the worst of the rain, but her hair was standing on end and a scorched branch was rolling towards the bridge. Despite the rain, the rope to one side was smoking dangerously. With the final weave finished, a confetti rainbow burst from her hands. The sky cleared, and the smoking rope was easily extinguished with a flow of Water. A red star was painted into the stump, the mess somehow cleared, a wooden door now embedded into the remains of the oak tree. Madienne made her way there unhurriedly, not even chancing a look down one more time. She opened, the door, and walked through...

Through the oval ter'angreal into the chambers, surrounded once more by the seven sisters and the Mistress of Novices. No, not once more; they had always been there. The Mistress of Novices clapped her hands loudly. “It is done,” she said. “Let no one ever speak of what has passed here. It is for us to share in silence with she who experienced it. It is done.” Again she clapped. “Madienne Serafina, you will spend tonight in prayer and contemplation of the burdens you will take up on the morrow, when you don the shawl of an Aes Sedai. It is done.” A third clap and she left without looking back.

“Will you accept Healing?” Asked the Yellow. Madienne nodded dully, only vaguely aware of her multiple aches and pains. Light, how she hurt. All she wanted to do was go to her room, and eat something. She had much to think about.