Dreamwalking
Written by Aleatha Sedai
[Board Intro/Signup Message]
[Lesson One]
[Lesson Two]
[Lesson Three]
[Lesson Four]
[Lesson Five]
[Final]
[Return to the Archive]
Board Intro
Your teacher is waiting for you by the fireplace, a tall woman dressed in simple white. Her hair is the pale silver colour of moonbeams and her eyes match that unnatural pallor. Smooth of face with a cream-coloured skin, there is no mistaking who this is. Your teacher is Aleatha Fondir Sedai of the White Ajah, former Mistress of Novices and Amyrlin Seat and a gifted Dreamer and Dreamwalker. Despite the stories you heard about her, her smile seems pleasant as she greets you.
Lesson 1: Essential Theory
Aleatha diverted her attention from the fireplace towards the class, and within seconds all fell silent. Despite her quiet past few years, her name was still attached to many stories, as many true as false. Pleased with the undivided attention of her students, Aleatha cleared her throat to speak up. Her voice was soft and melodious, carrying with crystalline strength on the warm air.
"Welcome to my class about Dreamwalking. I am Aleatha Fondir, one of the Tower’s Dreamwalkers and the teacher of this class. Please be seated on these chairs, and if there are too few of them, take one of the benches, so we may begin." She sat down in a more comfortable chair herself, smoothing the creased silk of her skirts.
She looked around the classroom before lighting a dozen or so candles with a simple net of Fire. Silently, she let her eyes adjust to the increased level of illumination and waited a few seconds for all the students to settle down comfortably.
"Today, we will be discussing some ground work that is necessary before we try any Dreamwalking. Those of you without a Dreamwalking Talent will be given a ter'angreal while in this classroom to reach the World of Dreams safely." The students had settled now, Aleatha realised gladly. It seemed the classroom was large enough after all.
"Please, all of you take a book from the center of the table, because this is what you will do your research from." Aleatha pointed to a small table behind her.
"Tel'aran'rhiod, also known as the World of Dreams, the Wolf Dream, the Living Dream, the Unseen World, and the Dream, contains its dangers as well as its uses. Any injury received while in Tel'aran'rhiod will still be there upon waking. To die in the Dream is to die in the waking world. To put yourself into the Dream physically is to lose a part of yourself, the same if you dream yourself too firmly situated there." To those who knew her, the tiny flinch in Aleatha's silver eyes might have been visible. "If the part of yourself in the Dream grows too strong, the flesh will weaken and die."
The Amadician White paused, looking around the classroom and at the faces that were attentively watching her. "Now that you know the dangers, are you still willing to continue? If you are not, you are free to leave. Insecurity might mean death, in the Unseen World." She waited, and smiled faintly as no one rose to leave. "Good. Then we will continue."
"In Tel'aran’rhiod, there are many things you can do that you could not do within a normal dream. One thing is searching with need. This is done by Aiel Dreamwalkers to find water, for example, but can be used to find anything if the need is strong enough. Another thing that can be done in Tel'aran'rhiod is make and unmake nightmares. Often a person's nightmare will enter the Dream and stay there, catching unsuspecting Dreamwalkers. To disband a nightmare, you must make yourself believe that it is not there, and that everything is the way it should be. One thing you should always keep in mind when walking the Dream is that nothing you see is more real than your imagination. Focus well enough, and all can be made or unmade. Nothing is impossible. Traveling can be done in the Dream also, but we are not going to do that in this class."
"Those of you who possess the Talent to enter the Dream on their own will also visit the void where Dreams can be seen, and will learn how to locate others' dreams and watch them." She arched a silvery eyebrow when two novices engaged in animated conversation after hearing this last piece of information.
"Now, I want you all to rise up from your seats and tell me two things you can do in the Unseen World, as well as two dangers. After that you are dismissed." Aleatha looked around the classroom and nodded towards a small Soldier. "You may begin."
Ä
Lesson 2: The Science of Sleep
Aleatha presided the class again, going over a few notes. A book sat open on her lap, a quill lying on the page she had been working on. When the bells tolled, she put the book away carefully underneath her chair, and then stood up, stretching her arms as she did so.
Soon, the students started arriving, so she remained standing for a time, acknowledging everyone's presence and noticing the absence of a few faces.
"Welcome once more, class. Today we will be learning to sleep when we wish. Now, we won't necessarily be going into the World of Dreams today, but you will learn how to fall asleep fast, or even to sleep while waking. It is a valuable skill." She walked to the door, quietly shutting it, making the room darker. "If everyone would please take a position where they are comfortable, it would be very helpful in this lesson. Use the benches along the wall." Aleatha watched her students find a comfortable place to lay down and sat down in the comfortable chair herself.
After they had settled into their positions, the White began to speak in a soft, hypnotic voice. "Please close your eyes now. Concentrate on you feet. Feel your toes relaxing, your muscles loosening up. Your whole foot is relaxed, and hard to feel. The sensation has moved up your legs as you move your concentration there, willing the muscles to relax. Next, your hands. The feeling has gone out of them; they are unable to be moved. Your arms feel the same way, limp and comfortable. Your entire torso has become limp, and you feel yourself sinking into whatever surface you're on. Your neck muscles are unable to support your head, as they have gone limp and cannot seem to function. Now, your mind will rest as you calm yourself, thinking of nothing, clearing your mind, floating in a void." She paused. Not all Warders or Warders in Training used the void, though a fair amount did. She knew that most channelers were quite used to this state of meditation, however. "There is a blankness, and all emotion, thought, feeling, sensation, has been put away. All troubles are gone."
Aleatha looked around quietly, seeing that the majority of the students had fallen asleep. Some had been unable to concentrate correctly the first time, but that was normal. She waited for a few minutes, gladly seeing that the ones unable to sleep at first had drifted off with the extra time. "Good, class. Wake now," she said in a loud commanding voice not unlike the one she had often had to use when she was Mistress of Novices.
The students woke up easily, as they had been not very far into sleep. A very few had to be shaken awake, but their classmates solved that problem with much fervor.
Aleatha nodded approvingly. "Now, you can follow the same process, but do not assume the void. It will keep your mind conscious while the body sleeps, allowing you to speak or tell what you dream. We will not do that today, but you should try it tonight, as long as you have someone watching you. This state also allows the bodies to recover from extreme fatigue while the mind continues thinking. It is a valuable skill out in the wild where you need to be 'awake' at all times. This allows you to be ready to move at an instant. In truth, you are only half asleep."
"To speed up the process, concentrate on all of your muscles relaxing at once, rather than the separate steps I said to you. It is much harder to do, but once you learn how you can fall asleep almost immediately. This also is a very valuable skill, especially if you are going into Tel'aran'rhiod. Most visiting there wish to have a time limit, and the faster you fall asleep, the more time in Tel'aran'rhiod you will have."
"Tomorrow I want to know how your two trials went, both the Fast Sleep and the Half Sleep. Dismissed."
OOC: Write an in class section and a later on section, but please be brief after the first time of explaining how to fall asleep. The later on section must consist of how to fall asleep quickly, and how it feels when you are half asleep. I’ll be happy to answer any questions :)
Lesson 3: To Walk the Dream
Aleatha glanced around the classroom briefly before shutting the door, signaling the start of the lesson. She swept to the middle of the room, her arms firmly folded behind her straight back.
"Welcome, class," she called out once they had situated themselves. "Today we are going to enter Tel'aran'rhiod, so those of you without a Dreaming Talent or Wolfkin abilities need to come to me and get a Dreaming ter'angreal. I will be assigning this ter'angreal to you for the duration of the class period only, so do not try to take them. I will be writing down which one you take and telling you how to work it when you come up, so please form two lines, one for channelers, and one for non-channelers. If you are a channeler but not yet confident enough, line up with the non-channelers."
She waited while the two named groups sorted themselves out, then asked the Indigo Aes Sedai who had agreed to loan ter'angreal to her class to start with the non-channeler pile. Deranih worked on the channelers, saying many times over, "Just a thread of Spirit, that's all it takes." That's what most of them took, Spirit. When her pile ran out the remaining channelers moved into the line with ter'angreal that didn't require channeling to work.
Once those that needed it had been assigned a ter'angreal, Deranih moved back to the center of the classroom, thanking the Indigo for her help. "All right, everyone. I hope you practiced how to fall asleep when you wish," she said, looking at the faces that showed guilty looks. "But today we will not need that talent. Since it is a skill not easily mastered right away, I have obtained a small drink that will have you asleep in two blinks of an eye." The Amadician White smiled slightly. There was no need to mention the foul taste of the concoction before they drank it.
She went around to everyone, handing out little cups she had obtained from the infirmary. In it was a liquid that looked and smelled like tea, but a taste would prove it rather bitter. She didn't need any herself; falling asleep would truly be a matter of second for the trained Dreamwalker.
"As soon as you drink this, you will start falling asleep. You are to hold this room firmly in your minds eye, concentrating on everything around you. The World of Dreams will automatically take you here."
"On the count of three, everyone will swallow their drinks. It should only be a little bitter, but the mint I put in should almost cancel that out. Now, one, two, three." Aleatha watched as everyone took their drink and drifted off into the Dream, while she conciously slipped away to the Unseen World herself.
The room seemed lighter than before when Aleatha arrived in the Dream. There was no visible light in the classroom, but the place was far from the dark. The ethereal lights of Tel’aran’rhiod were always there, as well as the unseen eyes that were hard to ignore despite their irrationality. Soon, the students began arriving, surprise painting their faces as they appeared on the same places as before, spread out on various benches and chairs.
"Good, good, you've all made it. Now, follow me, carefully thinking of nothing more but this lesson. Anything else could be dangerous. As you walk, make sure to concentrate on your clothes. They will change often, but the more concentration you use, the easier it is to keep them the same. After enough use, you won't need to concentrate on them at all. Now, go explore your rooms and the kitchens, making sure to change your clothes at every hall, just to work on control. When you are done, come back and create a stool by knowing it is there. Just tell yourself 'There is a stool' and imagine it firmly in your mind."
OOC: Have your character get a ter'angreal if they need one, drink the potion, and get to Tel'aran'rhiod. Explore while having your character concentrating on the clothes, and then create a stool. End lesson.
Lesson 4: What May Be
"Today, I will give an overview of the things that can be done in the Unseen World." Aleatha walked out of the shadows of the dimly lit room, her hands folded at her waist. "The ter'angreal you used last lesson are still at your seat, so please do whatever is necessary to activate them now. The drinks to put you to sleep are on your tables, one for each of you. Please drink them now, focusing your mind on this classroom."
Aleatha let her conciousness fall into the waking sleep while standing, entering Tel'aran'rhiod while still aware of the Waking World.
After all the students had successfully gotten into the Dream reflection of the classroom, Aleatha walked around, feeling very solid, but knowing that she looked misty to the students. "Today we are going to focus on things we can do in Tel'aran'rhiod. Please attend me closely."
She walked away from the center of the classroom towards the door, where she glanced out carefully before pulling it shut. "In Tel'aran'rhiod, things can be found with need. If your need is great enough, the Dream will take you to it." Aleatha glanced around, her silvery eyes glinting in the ethereal light of the Dream. "I want all of you to fix your mind on the need of rooms. Think to yourself, 'Need, sleep, lodging, need, rooms,' and so on and so forth. It should take you to a room. Once in a room, try narrowing your search by thinking of something less common, like comfort, or luxury. If you keep those thoughts long enough, you will shift closer and closer to the object of your need. As I mentioned Aiel Wise Ones use this to find water in the Waste. Please focus on your need now, and after you have gotten to your rooms, please come back to this room by emptying your mind and picturing this room as you do when you are falling asleep. Do keep in mind that whatever you encounter, it is only as real as your imagination. If you don't like what you find, try to return here, and if you cannot, wake up."
She watched as the student's eyes closed, and they disappeared one by one hopefully going to rooms. Some came back quickly, while others took a while, but eventually all came back safely, which was a relief to the White Sister. Need could sometimes bring you to places that were far away from your destination, a fact Aleatha had often seen demonstrated for herself.
"All right. I hope you all found the object of your need. If you didn't, you can try again at the end of the lesson."
"Now, we are going to make objects and things. We are going to envision the Gardens now, the main courtyard by the fountain, as it is larger than this room and safer to practice in." She closed her eyes, and instantly was in the Gardens, where her students soon arrived.
"Please make sure there is a clear space around you, so that what you make doesn't hurt someone else." Aleatha moved a little away from one of the students so that she had about two arms lengths between herself and the boy. "Now, clear your mind of thought. Remember how you made the stool in the last lesson, and use the same technique to make a dog, or a horse. There is an animal in front of you. Its feet are planted firmly on the ground, and it is real," Aleatha began in a monotonous voice, droning on as animals began to appear all around them.
"Well done," she told those that had succeeded. "Everyone who was unable to make an animal, try again now. Also, I assume you were unable to make a stool in the last lesson, so you will have double homework." She kept a straight face when groans were issued from those unable to create their creatures.
Soon enough, though, everyone had an animal in front of them, and Aleatha took pleasure in watching what kind of animals had been created. She chuckled softly as some students fearfully backed away from a hideous scaly creature. A grolm.
"Now we are going to unmake them. This process can work with nightmares you stumble across, trees, anything. Just tell yourself firmly that everything is as it was, and fix what the yard looked like before your animal arrived in your mind's eye."
The animals disappeared one by one, some students needing more time than others to undo the creations they had made. Once they were gone, the teacher began to speak once more.
"Our last topic for the day will be your appearance. In your last lesson, you focused on changing your clothes, and this can be applied to any part of your body." Aleatha paused a minute, and she quickly thought of herself looking like the student next to her, a short, stocky drin'far'ji.
"In Tel'aran'rhiod, we don't need the One Power in order to create illusions. We can do it through our perception of ourselves. Imagine yourself looking like the person next to you for a minute; stare at them until you could swear they are really what you look like. Then, create a mirror like you created the stool and look at yourself in the mirror."
"Once you are done and I check you off the list, you may wake up and leave the classroom. It is getting late in the Waking World, and you may have classes early in the morning. Also, those of you who were unable to create an animal on the first try, please make a map appear in front of you when I come towards you and show me position of the Grey Tower and your home.”
OOC: Do everything that you were told to do and I'll either pass you, or have Aleatha put you back to sleep to try again. Have fun with your animals, and be creative!
Lesson 5: Space and Time
"Today class, we are going to be splitting up into groups. Those of you with a Dreamwalking Talent or other abilities that allow you to enter the World of Dreams unaided are to go to the right side of the classroom, while everyone else is to take their ter'angreal and go to the left side."
The students began to re-arrange themselves, passing Aleatha who stood at the center of the classroom. She turned to the left, and spoke softly to the Aes Sedai sitting calmly on the armchair.
“Are you ready, Sister?” The other woman, dressed in deep night-blue with an Indigo shawl draped over her shoulders, nodded in assent and ran one hand through her raven black hair.
Aleatha smiled and then addressed the students who had gathered up on the left side of the classroom. "You are to activate your ter'angreal and drink your sleep mix if it is necessary. Then go to this room in the World of Dreams. This is Felora Sedai,” Aleatha said and motioned to the Saldean Aes Sedai in the armchair. “She will take you around the Dream, showing you how to travel while dreaming. As I said in the first lesson, you will not travel the Dream in the flesh, but you will learn the basics while sleeping. First, you will travel while running, then flying. In the end, please come back to the classroom and wake up. Only drink a few sips of your mixtures, and take the rest back with you to fall asleep for the night."
After talking briefly to the Aes Sedai once more, Aleatha turned to the right side of the room where the other students sat. "We will be going to the World between the Dreams, where the normal dreams of sleeping people lie. Everyone take your cup, and instead of taking the step into Tel'aran'rhiod, think of yourself going halfway. You are not going into your own body, but instead think of a black nothingness where many points of light are visible. There, you will wait. I will find you, and you will follow me. It will feel funny, because you will have no body, but you will know I am there. Once in the Blackness, we will look at both a shielded dream and an unshielded dream. Be careful if a dream is coming towards you, because those approaching dreams belong either to a person that loves or hates you. I cannot save you from those dreams, and you will be in their control until you or they wake."
"Let's go."
OOC: People without the Talent, please write of yourselves going to Tel'aran'rhiod, meeting Felora Sedai, and walking out of the classroom. Felora then starts running, and you run to follow, where you realize you can travel miles with every step. Soon, you catch the Aes Sedai, and she jumps into the air, flying. You follow her once more, seeing the land briefly. After that, you visualize yourself back into the room, where you will wake. People with the Talent, show how you get to the Blackness, me meeting you, and the watching of the dreams. Explain what you think the differences are between the many dreams, and give one problem we face, be it a Dream drifting towards you or getting pulled into the dream you are watching. If you get pulled in, please NPC Aleatha coming and fishing you out. In the Dream, she is usually a blonde woman with almond brown eyes, yet she won't be too hard to recognize. If a dream comes zooming at you, flee the Blackness or else let yourself be pulled in. If you get pulled in, I can't get you back out, so you are stuck there until either of you wake. Also, tell me a little of what you watched in the un-warded dream.
Lesson 6: Final Test
Aleatha watched her students entering the classroom, less numerous and much more subdued than they had been in the beginning. The World of Dreams was vast, powerful, and left those exploring it for the first time in definite awe. "Students. Today is the last lesson, and also my final evaluation of you.” Aleatha looked around from her armchair at the front of the room. Felora Sedai stood beside her, watching the class with a small smile on her pale lips.
"You will be going into Tel'aran'rhiod without me, after telling me two safety warnings from lesson one. After you return from the World of Dreams, you will tell me three different things you did, be it traveling, making things, unmaking things, changing your image, or going to the Blackness to view a dream. Please do not take long, and Felora will follow you to make sure you are actually doing something. She won't speak to any of you, so you will still be considered unaccompanied, but if any of you are not doing anything constructive despite my orders you can be prepared for her to tell me that."
Deranih smiled slightly, her eyes glancing darkly at some of her more rambunctious students. "Remember also that nightmares walk the Dream, and you must unmake them when they come."
OOC: For the final, tell two safety hazards, fall asleep naturally, or else get a potion from Aleatha, go to the World of Dreams, and do three things. You will run across a nightmare as one of those three things, so that will test your unmaking abilities. If anything goes wrong, NPC Felora getting you out somehow. If you have the Talent, feel free to enter the blackness after the nightmare and watch a dream, or get sucked into one. These are both viable options.
|
|
