Elayne shook her head at the 2 bodies lying in front of her. She couldn't tell which one was worse--Nynaeve, motionless and dead-like, or Rejik, thrashing, moaning, and telling the Dark One to 'get out' and such. Wake up, burn you! she thought fiercely to Nynaeve. She didn't care a thing for Rejik--in her point of view, it was probably him that masterminded the whole thing.
"They'll both be back to normal soon enough, lady," the makeshift nurse said. "The boy there gave us a scare--he had a weird fever that wouldn't go away, but it just disappeared a few hours ago. I'd give them 2 days in bed."
Elayne sniffed at the nurse. "We don't have that long. I'll just have to bring them out of their sleep." Rand hadn't exactly let me do this, but he should know his place by now.
The nurse raised her eyebrows, but left the room muttering about 'impatient young girls'. After she let out a snort of rage, she cupped Nynaeve's face in her hands. Before long, she was stirring softly. "Nynaeve?" Elayne whispered.
She opened her eyes. "Elayne…Light, am I glad to see you! I thought we would never make it back." She scanned the room quickly. "Elayne…what's wrong with him?" she pointed to Rejik.
Elayne shrugged her shoulders. "I didn't feel like Awakening him yet."
Nynaeve looked up at her incredulously. "You didn't feel like it? Elayne, he saved my life, yours, and Rand's. We didn't know what we were doing…we were looking for Moiraine when he came…" she shivered. "It was the Dark One, Elayne. Just being near him made you feel like sicking up. He tried to Posses us--I guess that was another Age of Legends trick--but he couldn't Posses me because…I guess it was because I was a woman. He tried with him, though." She nodded again to the thrashing body next to her.
"And…?" Elayne prompted eagerly.
"He immediately let go of his Power. He destroyed what had opened up whatever we had opened and closed it again. Almost destroyed himself, by the looks of it," she said with a worried glance toward him.
Elayne was taken aback. Nynaeve standing up for a man? She shook her head. "Ok, Nynaeve…if you insist…" She proceeded to cup Rejik's face in her hands.
Nynaeve's eyes bulged as Elayne was thrown back at least 3 paces from the bed. She carefully avoided looking at her for the rest of the time until Rand arrived.
They proceeded to tell him everything. After careful consideration, Rand sat back and said, "It's a self-defense mechanism. I have that one built up myself--it must be a common teaching at the Black Tower. Saidin can break it, though." Rand straightened his coat and plucked apart the shield that surrounded the still-unconscious Rejik.
As soon as it was completely down, Rejik woke with a start. He looked around frantically, and then regained his composure. "My Lord Dragon...I am honored by your presence."
"I need to know everything that happened…in your point of view." He cast a mistrusting glance at Nynaeve and immediately regretted it. "I'm sorry…it's just that you are Aes Sedai…" he cleared his throat and motioned for Rejik to speak.
"I don't know quite where to begin…" After a long pause, he drew a breath and continued. "She was telling me," he motioned to Nynaeve, "about her friend being trapped somewhere that…I figured that we needed to use both Powers to break through to."
"And you did this because…?" Rand asked suspiciously.
"I guess I was trying to make up for what I did to them at the meeting." He barely hid a smile as Nynaeve gave him a grateful look. I can't tell them about the dream…not yet, anyway. "Anyway, we started drilling at this 'wall' when a very evil presence tried to invade us. It started to take control of me using my own power, so I just forced saidin away, therefore closing the wall and destroying the means to break it."
"I'd like to see this being done again…just the joining of the Powers, mind you," Rand added after he saw Rejik blanch.
Sighing and pushing himself to his feet, he saluted the Dragon Reborn. "As you command, my Lord Dragon." With a look at Nynaeve, he added, "if both parties are willing." When she nodded, he got ready to embrace the Source.
When they were finished with the exercise, Rand and Elayne looked at them thoughtfully. "I want you to experiment with this…I will join you after a while," Rand said.
Elayne sighed. "Me too, I guess." With that, Nynaeve and Rejik were left to experiment.
"Let's write our findings down," Rejik started, and then added, "I think it's high time I learned your name, Aes Sedai or no."
"It's Nynaeve. And I want to know yours, Dedicated or no," she said with an over-exaggerated stare.
"Rejik. Anyway, in saidin's case, lifting objects is the hardest thing to do."
"In saidar, too."
"Ok…how many pounds can you lift normally with saidar?" Rejik reached for the parchment and ink.
"Oh…about 600, maybe 650." She tested it out on various chairs and tables.
"Maybe men are just better at brute force…I can lift about 800 on my better days. Ok…let's join up and try to lift something."
Every table, chair, bed, and drawer was forcibly lifted off of the ground. Still no strain! "Let's try lifting ourselves now." They both floated 6 inches off the ground…still no strain! "All right, let's quit." They both let go of the power. After the euphoria the Power provided went away, they could both think a little more clearly. "I'd say the Power grew exponentially…I couldn't feel strain and I know that we lifted over 2,000 pounds worth of stuff."
The nurse walked in, stared at both Rejik and Nynaeve with terror, and ran back out. Every single piece of furniture had been ripped from the floor and been not so neatly replaced.
Rejik heaved a sigh. "What is it?" Nynaeve asked.
"It's the Lord Dragon…he thinks I'm a Forsaken or a monster, either one. He's never treated any other of his Asha'man like he treats me."
Rejik bit his lip in frustration. "Everyone seems to be running from me," he motioned to the door, "hating me," by his glare, Nynaeve could tell that he meant Elayne, "or wary of me."
Nynaeve spread her hands apart in a 'sorry, nothing I can do about it' gesture and started fiddling with the pen. Rejik was getting ready to leave when a honey-haired woman came in with a bow and arrow strapped to her back. Rejik and the woman were chatting amiably until Nynaeve felt the presence of saidin in the room. She turned around, alarmed.
"Birgitte…" Rejik growled raggedly. His eyes were narrowed. The woman had her bow and arrow pointed straight at his chest.
"I see you've made some new friends, Salgoth," she hissed at Rejik. Nynaeve raised saidar defensively.
As quickly as their reverie began, it ended. Rejik and Birgitte looked away from each other, both seeming pretty embarrassed.
Nynaeve tightened her mouth and was about to ask them about their unusual conversation when a vertical slash of light opened up next to her. Both Birgitte and Rejik were on their feet immediately; Birgitte loaded her bow while Rejik was forming a fireball. To all their surprise, Elayne stepped out of the gateway, running for Birgitte.
"I knew that he would cause trouble! What happened?" she literally.
Rejik, meanwhile, was massaging his eyes. Light! He flashed an 'I told you so' look at Nynaeve. His eyes snapped back to Elayne…apparently, she was trying to shield him from the Source. Burn it… he thought to himself as he snapped apart her weave. "What have I done to you that warrants shielding?" he asked, visibly calming himself.
"Really, Elayne…" Birgitte said timidly. "I had another flashback into the Age of Legends…he reminded me of someone."
"Some troublemaker, more likely," Elayne sniffed. Rejik looked about ready to incinerate her.
"Elayne, I don't know what's gotten into you," Nynaeve started. Elayne looked suspiciously at Rejik.
"What have you done to her?" Rejik buried his face in his hands. Burn that flaming, pig-kissing… Elayne's eyes got wider as she discovered she could no longer open her mouth. Nynaeve started to say something sharp to Rejik, but he had undone his weave by then. He looked at Birgitte, and they both burst out laughing.
Elayne's mouth opened in horror. "Birgitte…you're my warder…"
"That I am," Birgitte said, putting a reign on her amusement, "and I know that you deserved what you got."
"Anyway," Elayne started heatedly, "Rand sent me here to find out how you were doing. I trust everything has gone smoothly." She shot a meaningful glance at Nynaeve. Rejik shook his head in disgust. Light, will it ever end?
"As a matter of fact, we recorded our findings," Nynaeve said proudly. She handed Elayne the parchment.
Rejik felt saidar's presence in the room and noticed that Elayne was talking very softly to Nynaeve. A minute ago, he would have let them talk, but now…I'm unfairly left out of some things and unfairly put into some things. He drew saidin until it became difficult to control. With his enhanced hearing, he picked up the conversation.
"…How does it feel…is it similar or different?"
"It…it's like nothing I've ever experienced in my whole life. Saidar is…buffered…by richness that can only be saidin. This was how the power was meant to be, Elayne!"
Elayne looked up from the conversation, chin raised haughtily. "Did we give you permission to channel?"
"I wasn't aware I needed any, Aes Sedai," Rejik sneered smugly. Eyes blazing, Elayne resumed the conversation, but Rejik quickly became uninterested, so he started his own conversation with Birgitte. "You called me something earlier…Salgoth, I think. Who was that?"
Her eyes seemed to be looking out into the distance. "Salgoth was a very powerful channeler. He…discovered a lot of things about the Power…balefire was one of them. He was different because he worked a lot with woman channelers…unheard of both then and now."
"Huh…doesn't sound like a very nice guy to me. Balefire!" He shivered to himself, Balefire!
"He was an unruly character, Rejik…we were close friends until the Breaking of the World. Then, like every other man that could channel, he went insane."
"Why does Elayne hate me so much, Birgitte?" Rejik leaned forward.
"I think that it has to do with our warder bond…based mostly upon subconscious thoughts. I subconsciously hate Salgoth because he what he did once he went insane…I guess she shares the feeling. I will be the first to apologize."
Rejik sighed. "It's not just her…it's everyone. My…I guess you could say 'hero'--the Lord Dragon--thinks that I'm some sort of Forsaken that's somehow infiltrated the ranks and has got to be watched at all costs. Blood and bloody ashes, Birgitte! They're going to drive me insane before saidin
Rejik made his way to his quarters. Women! He'd just about had enough of them.
A vortex of saidin appeared before Rejik. He drew more and more inside of him. Light…just a little more…just a little more… The feeling of euphoria was quickly turning into pain. He didn't stop, though. His vision was starting to get blurry. His head felt dangerously light.
A wall materialized out of nowhere that stopped him from drawing any more. Mentally exhausted, he collapsed on his bunk.
***
Rejik awoke to a flurry of pain. "Light, Rejik, what were you thinking? Scared Rand half to death…thought that Moridin had paid him a visit! Don't - you - even - think - about - doing - that - again!" Nynaeve accentuated each syllable with a vicious lash of air.
Rejik, too weak to even stand, couldn't hope to control saidin. All he could do was crawl to his knees and accept the punishment. He squinted his eyes and opened his mouth. "Nynaeve…"
"Get up…quicker! We've got work to do!"
"Light, Nynaeve, cool off. Come on…I can barely feel saidin at all, much less control it…"
"Well, that was your choice, now, wasn't it?" Rejik shook his head and walked unsteadily down the hall.