Wherling Lesson One

[Requiem]

Bother. Her normal schedule was to wake after sunset and stay up throughout the morning, but apparently there were no other wherhandlers who were bonded to wild whers - and knew a thing about wherhandling - at Selenitas. So she'd been roped in to taking a bunch of little snotnosed twerps and trying to whip them into shape. Nor was she at all pleased to have her schedule interrupted. It was fine for all these teenagers and young people, but after five decades schedules got to be important. She couldn't just be expected to shift her internal clock around at the drop of a hat!

Sensing her mood, Whisk whined softly at her, pressing close. Not the largest of brown whers, he was still a pretty respectable size...but then, so was Whinny herself. You didn't see too many women over six feet tall, especially at her age. The two were making the rounds of the apartments right at this moment, the woman marking the doors with coal. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. They'd get used to her referring to them that way, too, at least until she bothered to learn their names. Which may well be never in her present mood.

"Up!" she barked, at the center of the cluster of doors. "Wherlings, report to the lessons' room!" Not bothering to see if they came or not - late wherlings and absentees would find themselves up to their ears in unsavory chores that even the Headwoman had managed to overlook - Whinny pivoted on a heel and marched for the common room that doubled as a lessons room when wherlings were in residence. Ramrod straight, the woman stood at the center of the room, her steel-gray, ear-length hair gleaming faintly in the limited lighting. Whisk was hardly visible at all, his dark hide melding almost perfectly with the shadows.

Whinny turned to face the entrance and crossed her arms over her chest. Her face was utterly expressionless. They. Had. Better. Hurry. Up.

---

Gold Rozsk, bonded to Rozen
Bronze Roisk bonded to Roivao
Blue Venusk, bonded to Venus
Blue Mask bonded to Malara
Green Cadisk, bonded to Cadil

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[Rowana]

Roivao practically jumped out of his skin when the loud voice broke through his troubled sleep. Even now, the nightmares still came, though a little less every night. Pain brought him to reality and he winced at his chest. The wounds Rozsk had given him were hardly healed yet, though so far they weren't getting infected. He was going to have to be more careful about how he got up in the morning. Turns of working under hard weyrling masters, wingleaders, and slavemasters, had trained him to look past discomfort and get moving even when he'd rather lie in bed.

Roisk came awake as he did, offering comforting morning greetings as he struggled to put on clothes without pulling his stitches. Was His feeling alright? Did it hurt? "I'm alright," Roi whispered. He rubbed the bronze head, enjoying the warmth beneath his fingers. It was such a relief to be able to share his pain, that he felt he could endure whatever injury. So long as Roisk stayed with him. Iloth, he thought. Where ever you are now. I hope you know I'm not alone anymore. Roisk rubbed the man's leg. Of course His was not alone. Roisk would always be by his side.

A familiar pang in the stomach reminded Roivao that both he and his new partner were hungry. First, however, they had best go and meet their instructor. Roi wasn't really looking forward to going to classes. It was like suddenly being demoted to weyrling again, particularly since his classmates would be over ten turns young than him. Still, he had to admit he didn't know much about whers. He wanted to learn and make the best of his knew life with Roisk.

They arrived first. Used to Fort's military attitude, Roi stood as straight and at attention as he could before their teacher. She was a stern looking older woman, and Roi got the feeling that she would disprove all the Northern rumors about Southerners being soft. A brown wher, most likely hers, could just be seen in the back of the room. Roisk stood at the ready next to his bonded. Where were the others? Roi didn't think this woman would be pleased if anyone was late.

[hseru]

The shout woke her, but it was Rozsk who urged her to a faster pace as Rozen rolled out of bed with a light groan. Hers would not be late to their first set of lessons. If anything, they needed to be the first ones present! All the better to set a good example to the rest. The gold was already up and sitting demurely by the door, watching Hers with eyes softly whirling with amusement as Rozen hurried to make herself presentable. The tip of her tail tapped lightly against the clean ground as she waited.

Zeek, having slept on Hispet's pillow next to her head, yawned widely as he watched her rush about. Stretching languorously, he trilled, turning his eyes to the gold by the door. Greeting her with a warble, he snapped his small wings out to get the blood flowing, then launched off to circle her with obvious admiration. She was a constant source of happiness for him. His very own gold! Rozsk snorted at him, but she'd already learned to tolerate his presence. Short of biting the smallone in twain, which she knew would upset Hers, Rozsk had little other option but to ignore him, which he took in stride.

Brush hair, pull it back into a tail, pull on her pants, slip on her tunic, cinch the belt, one boot, two boots, and done. The girl splashed cool water on her face from a small bowl on her desk, rubbing it dry on a spare square of cloth, then snagged the thin blade on her bed, strapping the sheath to its familiar place under the sleeve of her left arm. Pausing a moment to adjust it to the best position, she fluffed out the sleeves to hide it, and glanced down at herself to make certain that everything was in order. The normal pale colors graced her small form, blue this time, though she'd consciously chosen more durable items to wear. There was no telling what lessons would consist of. She turned, noticing Zeek had taken up his current favorite pastime of hovering rather literally over Rozsk. "Zeek, stop pestering her. You know she'll just try and eat you." The brown chirped his denial, though his flight had faultered just a bit at her tease. He put just a little more space between them. "You stay here, ok?" She addressed him. " Remember how the wild queen reacted... we don't want another similar attack." He chirped his agreement, and settled to the bedpost to watch his two females leave, obviously disheartened. Rozen blew a kiss at him.

Crossing the room to the door, she smiled at the gold. "Are we always going to do this?" The wher barked a low laugh. Only if Hers was always this slow when things needed to be done. Laughing herself, Rozen exited her room, glancing around to gain some insight as to what or where things would be happening. She quickly walked into the common room, and she could almost feel Rozsk scowl as they arrived second. Blasted bronze had gotten here first. Rozen hid her chuckle, as the austere woman in the center of the room looked like she'd take no nonsense. Rozen was privately glad that their teacher was to be a woman though.

She would have greeted the older man... Roivao, she now remembered from some conversation, but he was ramrod straight in attention. Instead, remaining silent and attentive to their instructor, she asked Rozsk to relay a greeting through Roivao's bronze, and a hope that he was feeling better. The gold grudgingly did so, but the greeting was clipped and her annoyance was clear. Afterward, she took up a position to the side of Hers, effectively placing the girl between herself and the other males. Her head found its way under Rozen's hand, almost as if by accident, and the girl gave the gold a subtle scratch, letting her hand rest there.

[topaz]

Venus jumped up in her new cot, much like she had only a few days ago when the wild queen had called her. Venusk was immediately by her side, nuzzling her thigh with his head. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and in turn scratched her beloved wher's leathery head. She sent a flush of affection and gratitude to the blue, who huffed his warm breath onto her leg.

Getting up, Venus dressed quickly, donning black pants and a dark blue tunic, along with black hide boots and belt. The voice that had summoned her from sleep did not seem any more cheerful about her call then Venusk's clutchmother had been, so Venus wasted no time in getting out of her room. As she walked towards the common area, she brushed a hand through her hair, to make sure she was at least presentable for her irate wherlingmaster. Of course, it was pitch black outside, and the common room as very dimly lit when she arrived, so maybe the woman would not even notice if she was disheveled or not.

Taking a spot on the other side of the bronzewherling pair, away from the gold, Venus bowed slightly to her teacher. Venusk made no sound whatsoever, and simply curled his way around Venus' left leg. The wher was sure not to touch his Venuslove's hurt leg, even though it had been healing well. Folding his abnormally large wings behind him, Venusk twined his tail completely around Venus' leg, and raised his long elegant neck up, pleading to be touched.

Venus obliged, caressing the pale blue wher's head in her hand, then moving to lightly scratch around his head knobs. Still fondling her dear Venusk, the wherling turned her attention to Whinny once more, and noted for the first time that her wher was indeed with her. Venus couldn't see the creature at first, but as her eyes adjusted to the dim light, the brown came into view. The bluewherling pair awaited instruction.

[Requiem]

Whinny's icy gaze swept the few wherlings who decided to show, her expression becoming more and more neutral - and less and less human - as time passed. She nodded to the bronze wherhandler in grudging approval. Good, good lad. Not as young as the others, no, but if she was at least twice their age, they were a child.

The aging brown wherhandler was not nearly as impressed with the second pair to arrive. They should have been first, for one. And what was that? Was that their idea of reporting to lessons? Why, the girl was practically slouching. Whinny might have mentioned something, but the second female was even more aggravating. What were all these prisses doing bonding to whers? "Thes ain't some Lordholder's mansion, an uh ain't no lady," the woman snapped at the girl. "Stan straight."

Her gaze fell severely on the three standing before her. "Ah'm Whenny. Yuh chillun'll call me Whirlenmastuh. Ef yuh thank ah'll be easuh on ye, thank agen. Thirtuh turn uh spen en the dust a the Hyphun mines, an ah've gotcha fuh sex month." She allowed a cold smile to cross her lips, then. "Sense yer fellas don ken the meanin uh bein on time, whale start wuthout em."

Pacing forward, Whisk fell in beside her with long familiarity. Passing before the goldpair, she glared at Rozen. "Yer two. Ah say two, ye ansuh. Got et?" Whinny then proceeded to name Roivao one, and Venus three. She suddenly whirled on Roivao. "One. Whut's the farst thang yuh chillun'll haf tuh do, tuh 'just tuh ye new lives?"

[Rowana]

Roivao was surprised and a little sad to see that two of his classmates had yet to arrive. He wouldn't want to be them when they did show up. Their instructor did not seem the forgiving type. In fact, she wasn't even being very forgiving for the ones who had been on time. He shuddered to think what she would be like if she were truly roused. As it was, Whinny's system of 'names' was certainly going to make this one of the least friendly lessons he'd ever had. Though that did not mean it wouldn't be very well taught.

Though he used to be quite open and talkative, Roivao had spent so long in silence that he probably would have preferred to remain that way a while longer. But Whinny's abrupt question changed that. Still getting used to his new title of address, he blinked in surprise and opened his mouth automatically. "Learn to be nocturnal and spend more time with our whers?" he blurted out a guess quietly, before he really had time to think about it. Then he snapped his mouth shut in embarrassment. It was probably a stupid answer, but there was no taking it back now.

[Rei]

A snarl ripped through the air as Malara and Mask made their way towards the small group. The blonde eyed her teacher with a wary gaze and noting the expressions on the other wherlings faces adopted a stoic icy gaze. Mask in turn allowed his eyes to quickly asses the other whers. Fools. They had all picked wrong. He had picked the best. He disregarded them all except for the gold. She was his queen and as such worthy, if only because she was gold. As Malara stopped so did the blue and he curled about her legs to eye Whinny with distrust. No one touched his especially not this woman. Her stance marked her as a threat and he tensed immediately.

The blonde stroked the blue head and focused on the teacher. “I apologize for being late miss. I am not one to make excuses so I will leave it at that. Unless you require an excuse?” Her voice was polite but unwavering and she met the woman’s eyes with her own steady gaze. Mask in response rumbled but the sound contained no malice…for now. Malara kept to herself for good reason. She had no love for any of these morons. Especially not Rozen. Rozen was way to cocky for her own good, that stuck up gold brownnosing idiot. She was firmly convinced that the girl did not deserve the golden wher beside her.

Mask snarled at his bondeds thoughts and Malara hastened to reassure him with a wave of loving reassurances. Of course she didn’t regret him. He was hers and he was wonderful. She could not ask for a better protector or friend. Mask’s eyes flashed a brief blue before taking back their cautious yellow color.

[hseru]

Rozen had a hard time distinguishing what the woman was saying, her accent was so thick, but she hid the frown that wanted to develop on her face. Stand up straight? She self consciously straightened her own shoulders, though it was hardly enough to make a difference -she was already standing as tall as she could. Rozsk would probably tower over her when fully grown.

The gold in question was practically humming with satisfaction at the woman who was to be their teacher. Here was a human who knew the meaning of discipline. Hers would do well to learn from this woman, with her no-nonsense manner and commanding air. Rozen nodded mutely when the woman told her what she would be addressed as, though the fact that their master obviously intended to use said number system perturbed her. Was it really that difficult to learn their names? There were only five wherlings total, even if only three were present. It didn't speak well for the lessons ahead. One could be disciplined and still show the meager act of learning a name. This woman likely cared not a shard for any of them, and that didn't sit well with the girl.

The woman ripped a question at Roivao, and he gave an answer that seemed credible enough. It was probably what Rozen would have said herself. Before the Master could dispute or agree with the answer though, Malara entered the room with her blue, who seemed rather angry at the lot of them if that snarl was any indication. A short introduction and apology later, and Rozen found herself almost looking forward to the rebuking their Master might give her. Honestly, the ego on the girl, especially after being late.

[ladybug]

Cadil had hit his mental snooze button after Whinny came through yelling at them to wake up, and Cadisk did nothing to stop him. She didn't particularly care about lessons, and she could tell her handler didn't want to go right now, so she wouldn't make him. She regretted it when he woke up late and she felt his disappointment and fear. "Oh...Master Whinny is not going to be happy," Cadil fretted, hastily pulling on his tunic and then hurrying to the lesson with Cadisk in tow.

To his chagrin, the lesson had already started. They were really in trouble now. Cadisk nuzzled him reassuringly. Rather than interrupt the lesson by offering an excuse, he joined the group of wherlings as surreptitiously as he could, hoping that Whinny wouldn't single him out.

[topaz]

Three? Was that her name from now on? Venus sighed mentally, not daring to show a fraction of rebellion in front of her new wherlingmaster. Instead, she stood up a little straighter, keeping a hand on Venusk's head to calm the uneasy beast. (Lessonlady was mean, she was! Venusk was not happy at all.) At least they would only have to put up with her for six months, Venus thought, suddenly very pleased that she had not Impressed a dragon. She didn't even want to think how unbearable having a teacher like this for over a year would be!

The fact that Venus could barely understand the woman was also quite annoying, and slightly unnerving. She got the gist of the question that was posed to Roivao, and agreed with his answer, but . . . what if this ridiculous woman asked her a question and she couldn't understand what she was saying? Venus had only an inkling of how Whinny might react if she was asked to repeat herself. Luckily there was a slight distraction from her thoughts as the two latecomers finally arrived. Venus tensed, waiting anxiously for Whinny to explode at the pair, especially the blonde one with the other blue wher. It didn't seem at all a good idea to say a single syllable out of turn in front of this wherlingmaster, as harsh as she was.

Venusk could feel His Venus' distress, and bumped up at her hand to try and reassure her. Her Venusk was there, she was alright. The lessonlady would not be yelling at her. No, no. His Venus was on time, she was. So she could relax. Yes?

[Requiem]

Immediate answer. And a correct one. Nice. The first one here, the only one who'd come with an attitude that she'd approved of right from the start, and he'd responded promptly with the correct answer. Well then. She hadn't expected to see anything like this so early. It was a pleasant surprise. At least one of the wherlings was worth his weight in salt. Squinting at him slightly, she was just about to say something when one of the little late wherlings scuffed in and interrupted her lesson.

Very, very bad idea.

Whinny's stare held ice and little else. She approached the girl, her height becoming overwhelming as she drew within a hand's length. Whisk preceeded her. He wasn't one for making noise, but his eyes were fixed on Mask unwaveringly, mouth opening slightly to flash his fangs in clear warning that the little blue wherling was not to interfere. "Da uh look loik uh miss te ye, chile? Mastuh uh Whirlenmastuh es the c'rrect form uh address. If ye ain't bleedin, uh doan wanna hair et. Ye doan empress meh by sayin ye woan make excuses, chile. Haf ye no respect? No discipline? Ye'll see meh aftuh lessons, Four. That's ye name until ye earn meh respect. An ye too, five." Her eyes flicked to the last to arrive. "Thar are extra chores fer wherlins that can't be tuh lessons on time."

Turning crisply on a heel, she returned to her position before the class. "Roivao. Good." A brisk nod, and her eyes flicked over the gathered faces. Yes, she knew their names well enough. They had to earn them. "Fer those huh came late, the most impurtent thang tuh 'djust tuh ye new lives as tuh change yer sleepin patturns. Whirs uh nocturnuh."

Suddenly, her attention shifted to Rozen. "Two. Tell the class why whirs uh nocturnuh, and," the woman continued, raising a hand to forestall an immediate answer, "Three, gave meh ze secund wakenuss uh whirs." All of this should have been covered in candidate lessons, and she expected the goldwherling, at least, to know the primary weakness that forced whers to hide from daylight. Wild whers, of course, could handle the light, but they still didn't like it.

[Rowana]

The other two wherlings had arrived at last. Roivao was relieved and sympathetic. At least they had gotten off with extra chores. Who knew what Whinny would have come up with if they had missed class altogether. He was shocked by the girl's haughty entrance though. Was she insane?! He tried to remember her name from brief introductions before. Malara and Mask, he guessed. The other blue pair were nicer so they had to be Venus and Venusk. He hoped this wasn't going to turn into a constant conflict. It would only make classes more uncomfortable.

He relaxed when Whinny's attention returned to compliment him on his answer. Or at least as close to a compliment as he figured he was likely to get. Being called by his name was good sign at least. But he couldn't say he was unhappy to be out of the spotlight after. He glanced over at Rozen and Venus, hoping they had been paying attention in candidate classes. He didn't think he had to worry about them, though. They both seemed capable and smart. Malara seemed to be another story and he didn't know enough about the boy, Cadil, so he wasn't sure.

Roisk glanced briefly at the his tardy siblings. He did not approve of them being late. It was disrespectful to their teacher and their whermates. But at least they had come. He eyed Mask for a moment. He did not like the blue's attitude towards the others. If a fight broke out, he would be ready to stop it. For now, Whisk and His were in command. Roisk stood proudly by his bonded. His was doing well. And of course. Roisk had chosen him, hadn't he?

[hseru]

Rozen held in her satisfaction at seeing their Master give the girl a decent rebuke. She was less self aware of her gladness that she'd not been late, and therefor the object of dissatisfaction for the moment. She was not a person to easily back down from others, but this was a bit different. She wanted to be a good handler. Even if that weren't true, Rozsk would eventually have dragged it out of her with the wher's own push to always be better. As it was, the gold was very careful to not give any of her attention to Mask, studiously ignoring him at the disgraceful display His at made. It just wouldn't do. She tucked away the information she was gaining on the lot of them for later use.

Rozen was pleasantly surprised that the Wherlingmaster then proceeded to address Roivao by name, and her estimations rose once more. She could deal with earning the woman's respect, as it meant it was there to be earned, even if it took a while in the end. Then the woman turned her formidable attention on her, and the questions started. She got the first one, with Venus gaining the second, and she hastened to answer.

Of course, not a single thing about Whers had been covered in candidate class, but Rozen was nothing if not self motivated when it came to the creatures she loved so much. Probably the only thing that saved her from looking like a fool was the fact that she'd questioned people about whers and their habits. Even the boy who'd arrived late... Cadil? had taught her something when they'd first met. If anything, she was eager to learn more, but this much... this much she thought she knew. "Watch whers are nocturnal because they see heat instead of light, and that makes them photophobic. Our wild whers are more able to handle it though."

She mentally crossed her fingers. That was the right answer, right? Rozen didn't like not knowing these things. It irked her to no end that whers seemed to get the short end of the stick, and their candidates even more so. Rozsk didn't like the light, but she was surprisingly tolerant of it, from what she'd heard of normal whers. Of course, to Rozen, Rozsk was far more than any 'normal' wher. Whether this was attributed to her actually being spectacular, or the girl's obvious adoration was a questionable subject. The gold was still privately seething because that bronze had outdone her. Of course, Hers answered promptly as well, and Rozsk sent a warm wave of affection. They would be seen, before the day was out. The gold would make certain of it.

[Rei]

Malara resisted the urge to flinch as Whinny approached. She did not fear Whinny in the least. No she was born in Lighttower and was not so easily intimidated. After class? Extra chores? Figured. Mask was not the least put out by Whisk’s display either. The blue handler was getting used to the fact that her blue seemed to have a vendetta with everything.

The blue wher let loose a growl that intensified from a low rumble to a menacing noise. Malara put a restraining hand on the blue’s head and he immediately stopped the noise, although he continued to watch the brown handler and wher carefully.

“Yes Wherling Master.” The blonde finished. When she turned from her and approached Rozen she frowned. Lessons were going to be trying. Not only was the teacher annoying she could hardly understand the woman. Threats were something Malara was used to. That didn’t bother her. However being called number four did. Nothing she could do about it now. Mask continued to watch the other whers and he flashed his teeth as the bronze looked at him. Did the bronze seek to fight? He better not approach his or he would get more than he bargained for. Groundless the blue’s threats where not.

In fact the pair were late because Mask had tried to face down a young weyrling and his green for she had snarled at him. The green would have gotten a few slashes for her insolence had Malara not sought to stop him. His was perfect and be obeyed her without question. He did not like to see his disrespected and so Whinny was firmly placed in his enemy list. Which was quickly growing.

[topaz]

Venus cringed slightly at Whinny's rebuke to Malara, and her eyes widened as the two women's whers faced off. It wouldn't have been such a nerve wracking sight if the blue had just backed down like he was supposed to. Instead, the rebellious wher flashed his teeth at the brown before him, with no less intensity and aggression then he had the rest of the whers in the classroom. Venus felt Venusk push his head into her thigh in his attempt to hide from the two snarling beasts. They shouldn't be fighting! It was only a lesson!

Venus continued to rub and scratch the wher's eye ridges in an attempt to lessen his anxiety. Although she made the effort to bathe the wher in calm, loving emotions, the truth was that she was having a slight battle with her nerves as well. It was a ridiculous notion, but Venus couldn't help but question, what if Mask lashed out at Whisk? Hopefully the blue was not so vicious as to completely diregaurd his and his bonded's safety, for as much as Mask might refute it, Venus knew that he would not best the larger Whisk in a fight. Finally, however, Venus reverted to a more calm state when she saw the quick submission of the blue to his handler's touch. Good. As long as the handler had some sense in her, nothing of consequence would happen. Aside from the fact that Venus had great doubts in said female's ability to care for anything other then herself and her wher, the girl was placated.

At Whinny's sudden question to Rozen, Venus was alert and standing a bit straighter once again. Oh shards. The other half of the question was for her! What was the second weakness of whers? Venus did a lightning fast search of her limited knowledge of the beasts - none of which was covered in candidate lessons - and found that the only weakness she knew of was the very same one that she assumed Rozen would . . . Yep. She was out of answers. Should she make something up that was at least halfway plausible? Or just admit that she didn't know the answer? Tough choice. With this wherlingmaster it seemed that either way she would be reprimanded or given chores; the latter which she might have to endure with Malara. Ugh.

Okay. Time to go over everything she knew about whers and try and find another possible flaw. They were obviously well muscled and had thick hides to protect themselves out in the wild. They also had wings but could not fly. Now, that might have been a flaw in evolutionary design, but Venus was certain their sense of smell well made up for that. She couldn't have asked any other question?! Apparently there was much more about whers Venus needed to learn, because in her eyes, the whers had no other weakness. Time to resort to plan B.

Looking up to Whinny only a few moments after Rozen had gone silent, Venus tried to formulate an impressively articulate way of revealing she had no idea what the answer was. Maybe then she wouldn't sound like such a dimglow. Unfortunately there didn't seem to be many ways to say it without sounding even dumber. "I..don't know the answer to that question." The words came out slow and as steady as Venus could make them sound, but she was only preparing for the annoyed glare and swift cutting reply that would no doubt follow her silence.