User:LadyLameness/Pattern's History
History
“ My memory is weak. I was dumb so long, nearly dead. Mmm. I could not speak. ”
— Pattern[1]
Pattern was one of the first Cryptics to try to form a Nahel bond with a human in the current period, as a "guinea pig" of sorts.[2]
Pattern began the bonding process with Shallan when she was just a child, but after her mother died she pushed Pattern away and chose to forget him, forcing him to withdraw to the Cognitive Realm. It was not until years later, after Shallan took an apprenticeship with Jasnah Kholin that their bond was reestablished. She drew him back fully into the physical realm while sailing towards the Shattered Plains by sketching him in her notepad.
Pattern had a low level of intelligence when first back in the physical realm, Shallan even referring to him at one point as almost imbecilic.[3] He quickly progressed, however, learning to speak, express complex thoughts, and even to recognize abstract human concepts such as sarcasm, idioms, and metaphors.
[4] When Shallan departed for X to seek out Jasnah Kholin, Pattern followed. After reaching Kharbranth, Pattern began to become more noticeable to the young women, who began to occasionally hear his whispers and see his cognitive form in certain captured Memories. The first time he is seen by Shallan occurred after she was requested to sketch Kharbranth's king, Taravangian. Distracted by the conversation, she drew Pattern and another crypic into the background of her drawing. After realising what she had done, she destroyed the picture, claiming to have made a mistake and promising to redo the portrat by the end of the day.
[5] Several weeks later, Pattern attempts to speak to Shallan while she is alone in her room working on the puzzle of the soulcaster. Shallan was alarmed to hear the whispered voice, not expecting anyone to be around. Although she called out, asking who was there, she got no reply, however quickly realised that a maid was cleaning the room outside her door. Despite the fact that the whispered words had been distinct and had come from inside her room, Shallan convinced herself that she had heard the noises of the maid cleaning and mistakenly interpreted them as words.