Fear Weyrling Lessons 15-17

[Ember]

Lessons Fifteen to Seventeen:
The next two months of weyrling training are devoted to specialization courses, refresher lessons, and wing selections. During this time Weyrlingmaster Iskierka will be working the students who can't or won't specialize very hard to make sure they're up to snuff for the Miles wing. For unspecialized weyrlings four posts is mandatory.

Attendance:
Bronzeweyrling Cr'oph of Mavenath
Brownweyrling R'ven of Trilaranth
Blueweyrling Dy'shi of Chakraith
Blueweyrling L'nu of Paglieth
Blueweyrling J'ash of Craivaruth
Greenweyrling Erilena of Feyrianth
Greenweyrling C'erc of Harmonyth
Greenweyrling X'rx of Eveyth

Post count key: 1, 2, 3, 4+, Specializing/Exempt

------

Iskierka stretched and had a moment to relax for the first time in a long time. She'd ended her personal training early for the day so that she had a bit of time to actually do nothing. It was nice to just close her eyes for a moment and think. The bluerider didn't mind hard work but non-stop work? That was a bit much. Even at Benden she hadn't worked as much. Damn Selenitas. And damn J'lorin for more or less saying she couldn't go back to Benden. No reason had been given and she didn't ask. All she knew was she was stuck at the southern weyr, seemingly on a permanent basis.

Ioth didn't mind at all. He'd grown exceedingly fond of all his students and even liked the training Legatus provided. Of course he did, he wasn't the one who had to poison himself. Speaking of poison, the bluerider eyed the box with the vials and considered taking her dose then. Better not. It's almost time for the lesson, Ioth interjected quietly into her thoughts. Iskierka sighed quietly and stood up while silently asking the blue to call the class. Chakraith, Paglieth, Craivaruth, Harmonyth. It is time for lessons. Bring your riders and thread fighting gear.

The blue flew large, lazy circles above the space they'd be using for the day. Another dragon waited on the field, their purpose unknown to the weyrlings. There were bags of firestone of roughly the same size at evenly spaced intervals on the field. Another smaller bag sat with each larger bag. As the weyrlings arrived Ioth landed and provided more instructions. Please land by a bag of firestone and have your rider feed you the rock. Speed is important. Remember that you and your rider must be able to recharge in the air as well. We shall practice this as well. Once you have flame request that your rider attach the second bag to the harness.

By that time, Iskierka had come out to the training field in her gear. The Threadfighting gear was made with between in mind. It was quite thick and very warm. Goggles to prevent Thread ash from getting into the eyes was also used. They wouldn't be flaming actual Thread that day but the simulation would be treated as life or death nonetheless. The bluerider projected her voice to the group of weyrlings, "Today we will be doing a full mock drill. You are to take this seriously. If your dragon or you are tagged by the 'Thread' you are to between to the designated location." At that time Ioth projected the location into the minds of the dragons. It was a but a few dragonlengths away from where the fake Thread would be falling.

"It is much easier to remain calm when you are hit by a piece of rope. If you are hit with real Thread your first concern should be betweening safely. Thread dies in between. Remember this. Today, once you have reached your destination you are to land, dismount, wait 30 seconds, and then rejoin the wing. If this seems like too much trouble then don't get hit." Iskierka figured she was done explaining until she remembered the weyr's apparent problem with dragons flaming each other. "Do not flame against your fellow weyrlings. If you think you might hit someone else do not flame. If your communication is good this shouldn't be a concern," she added with a faintly dry tone.

She had prepped Ioth earleir so he was ready to go when the weyrlings were. Iskierka climbed onto his back and hooked her straps to the harness. When it looked like the weyrlings were ready the blue spread his wings and Iskierka signalled for them to take off and which formation they were to assume. If it wasn't done to her satisfaction she would make them land and do it again. She wasn't going to go easy on any of them in the last two months of their training.

-----

The message from Ioth surprised Dy'shi. Threadfighting gear? Well okay. At least it was warm. The young teen put on the gear, goggles resting on his head rather than over his eyes as he harnessed Chakraith. He climbed aboard when she was ready and had her fly over to the training field. The blue listened to orders from Ioth to land near a pair of bags second to the left from the direction they came from. Those were firestone sacks. This wasn't the first time any of the weyrlings ought to have been seeing them. A mental nudge from his blue had the weyrling climbing down and he began giving her the firestone, as per Ioth's commands.

Dy let Iskierka talk without any questions. He didn't really have anything to ask about anyways. Not to mention it sounded like she didn't expect there to be any. When she was ready Chakraith gave him the next instructions...and the image of where they were to go if they were hit. The weyrling climbed back up onto Chakraith's back and looked at the others from there. He didn't really need to be present at the lesson. He had been given permission to specialize in something. The only things of interested were off limits to him though. At least he wasn't the only one who had chosen not to specialize. Erilena had also opted out.

Suddenly Iskierka was pumping her fist into the air and Chakraith jumped into the air. Woah. Dy'shi gripped the ridge in front of him in surprise. He'd been so distracted he missed the signal. Thankfully his blue had recognized the signal and taken her position in the formation easily. They weren't close to graduation for nothing. Dy fully intended on earning his title as a full rider. He waited for the next instructions to come through Chakraith or for her to simply start moving according to what Ioth said. The dragon on the field had risen into the skies as well. It was likely he and his rider were going to drop the 'Thread' on the weyrling class.

[Shiny]

J'ash smirked as he slipped his Thread fighting gear over his clothes. Ah... The extra warmth was much appreciated in this cold weather. And he would definitely need it later, seeing as going between was nearly inevitable. The excited young adult wiggled his goggles over his eyes and climbed atop his small Blue. Finally, they were going to learn how to fight thread properly. After his brother had died, J'ash had promised to devote himself to protecting others. And now, he was going to learn just how to fulfill that promise. He looked around appreciatively at the other weyrlings here. He was glad he wasn't alone, but also glad that there weren't too many others. It would be easier to use flame with less weyrlings around.

As Ioth instructed, J'ash quickly fed the firestone to Craivaruth, whose eyes swirled with a determined electric blue. The pair's emotions appeared to be in sync; Craivaruth couldn't wait to prove what he was worth. That he was, indeed, a Blue. Once Craivaruth was able to bring forth flame, J'ash hooked the second bag onto the Blue's harness.

Fluidly, J'ash climbed to sit atop his bonded, the movement very practiced and natural. The 20-turn-old made sure his straps were secured to Craivaruth's harness. The last thing he needed was to fall to his death before he had made some kind of significant contribution to Pern. The blonde always liked to treat things lightly, but not today. Not now. He was going to take this seriously, just as the scary Bluerider Iskierka had requested. Let's kill it, J'ash said, patting Craivaruth's thick neck. Let's.

The blue-green launched into the air powerfully at Iskierka's signal, falling smoothly into position behind Dy'shi and Chakraith. He waited for more instructions, bracing himself for anything that might be thrown at them. He was so close to being an official Dragonrider, he could practically smell it. His grip tightened on Craivaruth's ridge. It only added to his determination to do well.

[dragon]

L'nu bounced around inside his room, struggling with his jacket and trying to get his arm inside the second sleeve, grumbling to himself. All the while, Paglieth just laid there, already harnessed, watching and laughing at the antics of his rider. Finally, irritated beyond belief, L'nu stripped the jacket back of, threw it on the floor, and bounced up and down on top of it a few times. "TAKE THAT YOU MISERABLE HUNK OF SHEEPSKIN!!" he yelled, fists balled up and flailing in the air as he just stood on the thing.

Dropping his arms, he glared off across the room at nothing so hotly one could almost imagine to see the steam pouring out of his ears, shoulders all balled up high. Paglieth flicked his tail, no longer laughing as he gazed at L'nu with new concern.

L'nu never lost it. No matter how many times people called him weak, cowardly, stupid ... he'd always been L'nu. Patient, if frustrated. But taking out that kind of rage on a jacket? Paglieth straightened. Are you alright, mine? he asked, softly, a touch of yellow coloring the otherwise blue and green swirls in his facted eyes.

L'nu's shoulders unballed and relaxed, allowing his arms to drop, fists coming open. "I'm fine." He grumped, getting off his jacket and trying anew to get it on. Finally, he managed to wiggle the second arm into the second armhole, he scrounged around until he found his helmet, the goggles wrapped around it as if the top of the helmet had eyes. Clapping that on his head, he glanced at Paglieth. "What are you looking at?"

Some creature that has taken the place of my rider. Paglieth answered, calmly.

"Oh shut up. Everyone has bad days. Now come on, we're going to be late for lessons." L'nu grumped again, stalking over toward his dragon. Who promptly stood up to his full height, even if he was just a blue. "Hey! What are you playing at! Get back down here!" L'nu complained, pointing at the floor.

Say please.

"What?!"

Say please.

L'nu grumbled, face screwing up. "PLEASE."

Say it nicely. Paglieth amended.

L'nu grumbled and growled, stalking in a circle, swinging his fists at the air.

Paglieth just watched this impassively, staying on his feet. Finally, L'nu took a deep breath, turned around to face his dragon and in a much softer tone managed the word. "Please."

With a minuscule nod, Paglieth crouched down again to allow his young, short boy-rider to clamber aboard. Once situated, Paglieth turned and walked a few steps before leaping into the air. With a few wing strokes, he was zooming through the air toward the lesson grounds. Once there, he deftly landed next to an open pile of sacks, whereupon L'nu got off again. Firestone: he knew what that was for.

In short order, Paglieth was loaded up with flame, though the dragon had to lift the second back with his teeth gripping the top, to his own shoulder. L'nu was not big enough or strong enough to get the heavy sack up there. But as long as Paglieth had it, L'nu could fasten it in place. Once secured, L'nu strapped in again and the pair took off once more with the rest of the wing, taking their places in the formation.

L'nu had butterflies in his stomach, and had to breathe deep a few times to try and settle them before he threw up his breakfast all over Paglieth's shoulder.

We'll be okay. it's not real thread yet, and I am swift. We will be fine. Paglieth assured him.

[Ember]

Iskierka's eyes narrowed slightly underneath her goggles. So in the end only three had come. She was aware of Erilena's injuries and really she didn't need to be at the lesson. It was just review for those that were able to go into a specialization course but chose not to. J'ash, L'nu, and C'erc, however, had to be there. It was mandatory for them. Yet one of them dared not to came. It was C'erc's own loss and she paid it no mind. Instead she concentrated on the ones present. Once she got them out of her hair for good she would be getting a new batch. Yay.

She watched the dragons take off and nodded. Yes, the dragons were in good form. Such wasn't unexpected. The riders also seemed to have gotten the signal right since they took up the proper positions. Good. She didn't want to waste time on formation work that day. She had a surprise in store for the weyrlings later on. For the moment though she had Ioth pass the message to her helper to drop the fake Thread so that they could begin the excercise. As the first ones dropped she had Ioth lead the dragons into the fall.

The blue was busy giving instructions to the group even as he flew. Be conservative with your flame but make sure nothing but ash is left. As you practice, learning to do so will become easier. The blue was careful not to outshine the weyrlings too much. He performed his role in the wing but didn't go above and beyond that. If you believe you are about to be hit, carefully between to a spot that does not have Thread. Such little jumps will save you the pain of being Scored, he said gently, demonstrating a quick jump for them.

Do not try to flame if the Thread is too close to you. It takes time to burn. It is safer to let it go to a different dragon. In a real Fall there will be many, many more dragons on different levels. Iskierka had chosen a very sparse drop to begin with to give them time to warm up to the task. She passed the message to increase the drop rate and within a moment the Fall was heavier. It was about the rate of a normal Fall. If they proved capable she'd move them on to clumps of Thread, easily the hardest type of Fall to deal with. Let them taste failure then rather than in a wing.

-----

Dy'shi got Chakraith to follow Ioth in formation. He had Chakraith flame threads as he saw them or trusted her judgement. The young teen spotted a Thread over J'ash and prodded Chakraith's mind. Craivaruth above you, she said, a hint of urgency in her mindvoice. They learned a valuable lesson in that moment. Threads kept falling even when you were distracted. Iskierka had just ordered the Fall to increase and the bluepair were caught off guard.

As a Thread got close to them the female blue broke formation for a moment to avoid it. Unfortunately it fell towards the ground completely unflamed. Unless someone else got it, it would hit land and Iskierka would have to call it a burrow. She hadn't said what would happen if they let one go but he didn't particularily want to find out. Chakraith brushed the minds of her wingmates to bring their attention to it but could do no more than that as she suddenly became occupied with the increased Fall.

Events to note:
- Thread falling towards J'ash, been warned by Chakraith
- Thread falling towards ground

[dragon]

Paglieth beat his wings quickly to maintain his position in the wing, eying the dragon above and the mess he was littering to mimic thread. Even though intellectually he knew that was not thread, it still gave him a mixture of feelings as if it were thread. The real thing. Part of it dread, part of it fear of having it hit him or his, and eat them alive. Part of what he felt, though, was that embedded desire to rise to the challenge and beat the age old foe that he was bred to devastate.

He twirled in place in his position, itching to do something. But little if any of the threading had come his direction. Paglieth was not sure if he was allowed to break formation, either. L'nu, for his part, was spending his time just being eyes and hanging onto his harness for all he was worth. What with the stunts Paglieth was prone to pulling.

At least, their closeness and ability to see through each other's eyes made this an easy task. At least, the seeing everything part.

At the warning that there was a clump getting away from their sister, Paglieth snorted. You should worry, I don't have it. He stated happily, before twirling sideways suddenly and diving, wings tucked into his sides. Pulling up in proper positioning, he beat his wings for a bit more speed before he met the free falling threads with a broad swath of flame that had the mock-threads burning swiftly to dust.

L'nu freed one hand from his harness to sign to the others that it was taken care of - if any of them were bothering to pay attention. He was completely oblivious to the rather confusing statements his dragon was making, however.

The escapee thread taken care of, Paglieth flashed into nothingness as he vanished between. For three heart stopping moments he was gone from the formation, before reappearing back in his space in the tiny wing. Something to worry about

L'nu's heart was pounding in his chest, though. He would admit it; he was scared. Never mind it was fake thread. The very concept was scary. Swallowing and trying to lick some moisture back onto his dry lips, he cracked a hoarse sounding throat-clearing.

[Shiny]

Craivaruth blew flame at several of the falling thread, turning them to ash. A sense of success and power flowed between the Bluepair, even if it was just a training session. The dragon flying above them began to drop the fake thread at a more intense rate, and J'ash gripped Craivaruth's ridge harder as a result. It was nerve-wracking to have things falling at you from above, when you weren't aware of them until they were too close for comfort. The increased fall of thread was more difficult to deal with, but the temporary wing seemed to be holding it together. Their communication skills seemed to be alright. J'ash realized the importance of the skill when Craivaruth relayed Chakraith's warning to him.

Instinctively, the Blueweyrling ducked his head, as if to avoid the oncoming thread. The small Blue pumped his wings to gain speed and, in a flash, the pair betweened. Reappearing several meters behind where they had just been, Craivaruth flamed the thread that had nearly gotten His. As if to make up for falling behind, the Blue flapped his wings to regain his original position.

J'ash glanced over his shoulder quickly, looking for L'nu and Paglieth. Thank Faranth they weren't in the exact spot that Craivaruth had betweened them to. Who knew what would have happened if they had appeared in the same spot, at the same time? He didn't want to know. His eyes caught some thread falling towards L'nu. Without having to ask Craivaruth, the dragon relayed it to Paglieth.

Clutchbrother, Yours is about to be hit by thread.

The pair continued flaming thread as it fell, making sure not to flame the other two in the makeshift wing. One's going to hit Dy'shi. Pumping his long wings, the blue-green dragon gained some altitude, making sure that the young boy would not be in the line of fire. The Blue efficiently flamed the offending thread and gracefully glided back into place. Unfortunately, as he had taken the extra second to help his Blue Clutchsister and Hers, a thread fell beside them, unnoticed.

Events to note (Copies Ember x3):
- Thread falling towards J'ash taken care of
- Thread falling towards L'nu, Paglieth warned by Craivaruth
- Thread falling towards Dy'shi taken care of
- Thread not flamed by Craivaruth falling to ground

[Ember]

They are doing well. Just as you expected, Ioth said to compliment His. It went unnoticed though. Her ability to teach went without saying. She didn't like to do it but she did it well because otherwise she would be viewed as incompetent. That was something that would work against her so the extra effort was purely for her own sake than theirs. Iskierka's defining trait was her selfishness, though few might realize it unless they connected the subtle clues. Everything she did was in some way beneficial to her.

The blue dragon instead turned his attention to the weyrling dragons, brushing Paglieth's mind. I have the thread falling towards you. May I ask you to go for the one Craivaruth missed? The older dragon twisted in a super tight turn to flame the thread headed towards Craivaruth. He didn't expect any of his weyrlings to perform such a manouevre yet but perhaps some day some of them would manage it. He would be so proud if they ended up on the same wing as him. Don't count on that, Iskierka said harshly in his mind. It tooks both rider and dragon to get onto Legatus.

Iskierka didn't have Ioth resume his position in the wing right away. Instead she had him sweep low to the ground to see the 'damage' that had been done. The defence was adequate for a four dragon wing. With more dragons on different levels it was likely not one would have touched the ground. The blue drifted back up to his position. Threads continued to fall and one was aimed directly for Paglieth's wingsails, too close to flame. Another fell on Chakraith's flank. Suddenly there was more space in the sky for Threads to pass through and Ioth took up a position to make it easier to cover for the missing wingmates.

-----

Dy'shi had Chakraith wink between as she was 'scored' by a rope and had her land. He dismounted and eyed the marking the painted rope had left behind while silently counting in his head. When he got to twenty seconds he started climbing back onto his blue and by the time he was sure his straps were done up properly again the timeout was over. The midnight hued blue launched into the air and carefully betweened at Hers' request into a vacant spot slightly above Ioth, flaming a Thread above her teacher.

Suddenly though the blue was ducking out of the way of a clump of tangle Threads. They passed her and might have hit Ioth had he not twisted them out of the way. He pointedly didn't chase after them, leaving that task to her. She dove after the clump and flamed at it, finding it took longer than expected to burn away. By the time she was satisfied it was gone the ground was coming up quickly. She pulled out of the dive, wings clipping the ground painfully on her last downbeat.

The blue rose again to the wing's height and noticed that the Fall had changed. Clumps were falling all over the place. Iskierka and Ioth had changed the Fall again, much to the surprise of the weyrling bluepair. Another clump fell towards Craivaruth and the female blue worried if he'd have time enough to flame it all. Beware Craivaruth. It does not burn as fast, she said in warning. Her pained wing tips were a constant reminder of that.

Events to note:
- Thread falling towards Paglieth's wingsails
- Chakraith hit
- Clump falling towards Craivaruth
- Threads and clumps falling. Feel free to avoid/burn random ones that do not affect others.

((Shiny, from now on please don't attempt to control the events in the thread. Only the leader controls such things unless they give their permission. This is to avoid confusion. <3))

[dragon]

Paglieth acknowledged the directions he received, and flashed between to get past all the obstacles, allowing him to reach that rogue rope, and flame it adequately into ash. Snorting as some of it sprinkled across his face, he headed upwards again to rejoin the wing. It was a shout from L'nu that alerted Paglieth to flash between again, just in time to miss getting his wings nailed by the stray ropes again. Reappearing in a clear spot again, Paglieth tucked his wings and dove after the miscreant that had tried to 'score' his wings. With maybe a bit more fire than was strictly necessary, he wiped out that bit, too before it could get away.

L'nu smacked him in the neck again in warning, redirecting the dragon's rather overdone vehemence upward again. Clumps. This ... wasn't good. Pat attention, or we're going to fail this class. L'nu told him, pointedly.

Paglieth rumbled, headed up to rejoin the wing again, flaming escapee ropes as he went. Once he was back with the wing, he flamed a few clumps before one was coming at him from entirely the wrong angle for him to do anything about. Issuing a warning to the weyrling next over from him, he flashed between again, to reappear elsewhere. Only, he hadn't bargained on what was there when he did it.

Reappearing from between, he hadn't even been there a whole breath before a clump landed splat on his shoulders, completely enveloping L'nu, who yelled in honest startlement, flailing at the ropes that were now tangling him up. Paglieth simultaneously trumpeted from the surprise, before flashing back into between once more. They reappeared on the designated field, and Paglieth quickly landed. L'nu practically fell off, rolling around on the ground as he tried to fight his way out of the ropes. "GAHHHHH!!!"

[Shiny]

Unfortunately, Craivaruth and His didn't have enough time to react to Chakraith's warning. J'ash had the breath knocked out of him for a moment as a clump of fake thread landed on him heavily. Instantly, the pair betweened, reappearing next to Paglieth and L'nu on the field below. J'ash grumbled, annoyed that he hadn't seen that one coming earlier. At least Dy'shi had tried to warn him, though, and he did appreciate that. Their communication skills were bound to improve over time, especially after being put through simulations such as these, where the skill was proved important.

Craivaruth took the downtime to rest briefly. Although he was decent at flying after a lot of hard practicing, his long wings still hindered him, and it was nice to take a quick break to recuperate. After J'ash had unstrapped himself and slid off of the Blue's back, he pulled and tugged at the ropes, sighing in an annoyed fashion. This little incident was not going to bring him down, even if he was annoyed at the paint covering his threadfighting gear. (That better come out, he grumbled under his breath.) J'ash forced himself to keep his head held high as the last of the fake thread was dumped on the ground beside him. It happened to the best of them. Didn't it?

Well, actually, some people are naturally gifted, and are never scored by thread.

That was a rhetorical question, Crai.

A loud screech made J'ash wince, and he looked over at the fourteen-turn-old thrashing on the ground. Frustratedly, he rushed over to his fellow Bluerider. He had about fifteen more seconds of penalty time to serve anyway. "Calm down, L'nu," he said sternly, his big-brother attitude coming out. "I'm going to help you get out of these. Come on." Reaching out to grasp L'nu's shoulder with a firm grip, he started swiftly undoing some of the more tangled ropes. J'ash's face was oddly void of any smile, and he observed the panicking boy with concerned eyes. "If this was real threadfall, you'd already be dead." He would be too, but that wasn't the point. "Please be more careful," he said, letting the ropes drop out of his hands. The fake thread would be much easier for L'nu to get out of now that he'd loosened it. Besides, he didn't have time to fully help Paglieth's out of his binds. He was sure he was already a few seconds over the penalty time.

Swiftly strapping himself in, Craivaruth launched into the air powerfully, trying to make up for their lost time. Which wasn't much, granted - only a few seconds at most - but it still mattered. Chakraith and Ioth certainly wouldn't be able to cover all of the thread on their own, no matter their threadfighting skills.

The female Blue was right - the clumps did take longer to burn. Taking extra caution while flaming clumps, the blue-green dragon fluidly slipped back into place. J'ash made sure to be more alert for any thread that might fall on him from above. He hoped L'nu would be calm enough to join them again soon - one dragonpair made a huge difference.

[Ember]

Dead, Ioth said to both Paglieth and Craivaruth. There was no sterness in his mindvoice, just simple fact that both would have been dead had it been real. Privately to Paglieth the blue added, Mine wishes to convey the fact that Yours should not panic so. Jumping between under such circumstances is extremeley dangerous. This training could well have been fatal for you both if you had not transferred properly because Yours panicked. Also, you should avoid a jump if you do not think you have a clear image. It is not wrong to request clarification, but do try to be quick about it.

Iskierka was as close to fuming as she ever got. Mostly she was just insulting L'nu's intelligence, the wind tearing apart the words just after they left her lips. "Sharding idiot. First rule is always get to safety first, then panic if you must." A scornful hmph showed her opinion about panicking in general, though there was no one but her blue to show. Ioth attempted to soothe her and, much to his surprise, she let him calm her. not that it took much effort but to Ioth it meant a lot.

As they weyrlings returned from their penalty Iskierka passed a command through Ioth. You should be low on flame at this point. Request that Yours feed you more firestone. During this time if you are hit by Thread do not feel the need to sit on the field again. The point is to avoid the Thread entirely. Not doing so could easily cause the death of yourself or Yours. Ioth demonstrated for them as he turned his head for more firestone, depending on Iskierka's eyes to keep them safe.

Iskierka, however, had been planning a surprise throughout the whole lesson and then was the perfect opportunity. She held onto an image in her mind before directing Ioth subtley into the path of a clump. As the clump hit them Ioth let out a fairly realistic screech before leaping to the image Iskierka was providing for him. He reappeared not at the designated spot but at the other side of the canyon, crouched low just in case they looked in his direction. It was unlikely they'd notice him but he could see them well enough. Iskierka's mouth twitched up into a humourless smirk as she wondered what the weyrlings would do if their leader died mid-Fall.

-----

Dy'shi winced as J'ash was hit by the fake Thread and disappeared to the penalty field. Their warning had come a bit late apparently. Her blue brother's warning had Chakraith diving for the thread he'd been unable to get and then both of the bluepair heard a yell. Suddenly they were the lone weyrlings in the sky with their teacher. It got a lot busier without Paglieth or Craivaruth. Even Ioth let threads through, though the more experienced blue had yet to be hit by anything.

The two were too focused on the vast amount of space they had to cover to notice a clump headed towards Chakraith's head. Ioth saved them the trip by flaming it above them, the ashes stinging against Dy'shi's cheeks briefly before the wind blew them away and cooled the spots they had touched. They wouldn't even make a mark. Dy'shi wasn't vain but he didn't really want scars either. Scars were weird and freaky and he did not want those titles for himself.

Chakraith relayed Ioth's instructions to reload and Dy'shi fished stones out of the sack as the blue turned her head to receive them. He'd momentarily forgotten to watch out for threads and he shouted and almost too late warning. The blue swerved almost erratically out of the way. Another thread tagged Chakraith instead and Dy'shi groaned. He promised her to pay more attention and they succesfully avoided all but another thread that came their way while Chakraith was fed more firestone. Suddenly their teacher dragon screamed out and disappeared. Dy'shi turned in his straps to see if Iskierka and Ioth reappeared but they didn't.

Panic instantly set in. It was supposed to be a fake fall! Why were they hurt? Why had they disappeared? Why had they left him!? The boy fairly shuddered on Chakraith's back, most definitely on the verge of full blown tears, when his blue flooded his mind with her calm. Calm yourself, she said not unkindly. Always calm and collected, his female blue. To her brothers she said, Remain calm my clutchbrothers. We need only keep the formation and burn away the threads. Part of it was the built in instinct to eliminate thread. The other part was the blue had a feeling they were supposed to continue. The dragonrider dropping threads on them hadn't stopped after all.

[dragon]

L'nu calmed down quickly when he realized he was getting help. His fright hadn't been as bad as assumed by the others, more from surprise of suddenly finding himself tangled. A surprise it had been, indeed. The suddenly not being able to move. Or, sometimes, see. Hearing J'ash's voice after he'd gotten the wind knocked out of him by falling off of Paglieth, L'nu held still, panting for the air he'd lost in his initial yell.

The ropes got tighter for a moment as J'ash pulled on them, but after that they were looser. J'ash sounded like he was leaving again, so L'nu rolled over onto his belly and got to his knees, leaning forward as he wiggled, making the ropes slide off of him in pretty much the cocoon shape they'd tangled into around him. "Blek." He remarked, as he heard that he'd been pronounced dead.

"What do we do now? Do we return to the practice, or wait here?" L'nu asked.

Return to practice of course. We aren't going to get better sitting here. Paglieth answered, logically. I will do better. We will not leap into uncleared fall again.

"Probably a good idea, that." L'nu remarked, clambering aboard once more and snapping into his harness. Once secure, Paglieth launched off the ground strongly, their penalty already used up by L'nu's getting out of the ropes. A strong young blue, Paglieth's only malformity was all his extra talons. Those did not affect his flight at all, and he was quick to return to formation. He nudged his siblings gently to let them know he was back, careful to not distract them from the fall. He went to flame more of the ropes (which really had his ire now, real thread or not), but his flame faltered briefly before coming back and toasting the rope to nothing.

Mine![/color] He warned, just as he was instructed to take on more stone.

This time, their close bond and unconscious sharing of sight proved them a great boon. As L'nu tossed stones for Paglieth to catch and chew, they did not fly into any threads at all, dodging them neatly even with the blue flying with his head turned back. They were one, if a tad less aerodynamic at the moment. L'nu was quite proud of his dragon for those brief moments when he was allowed to have such thoughts.

And then suddenly their teacher was gone with a sharp cry. L'nu's heart leapt into his throat. What were they going to do now?! Hyperventilating for a moment, he calmed again almost as quickly when Paglieth leaned on him mentally. Have no fear. They are not dead. I don't know where they went or what happened, but they are not dead. Paglieth said, and not just to L'nu. But to his siblings as well. The teacher-blue was not dead. Paglieth could not say how he knew, but be knew.

For a moment L'nu wondered how that was possible, before he remembered something he'd been taught. Before the war, dragons had always known when a dragon died. And they keened for the loss. But now, dragons died so often, dragons were burnt out on the mourning. However ... that wouldn't stop them from knowing when a comrade died ... or didn't.

Feeling better about that, but still confused what they were going to do without a leader, L'nu mechanically went back to feeding Paglieth after being prompted by the blue for the stone.

Let us finish this fall. Make it pay for stealing our leader. Paglieth suggested, vehemently.

"Shouldn't we go find them? Make sure they are okay? This is just rope..." L'nu commented, worried. What had happened, to make them yell and between like that? "What if they're hurt?"

[Shiny]

I need more flame. Craivaruth commented, just before Ioth instructed them to refuel. Talk about perfect timing. The Blueweyrling kept his eyes peeled as the dragon bent his head backwards to retrieve firestone. The Blue managed to dodge the fake thread, using J'ash's vision to determine his path. Just as Craivaruth swung his head back around, another piercing screech shook the very air they flew through.

"The teacher is panicking now, too?" J'ash muttered under his breath, looking for the source of the noise - Ioth. He should be around here somewhere... Frowning, J'ash swept the area a second, third time with increasingly concerned eyes. The pair appeared to have betweened... But they had not come back again.

A nauseating punch of panic hit his gut as he frantically looked for the Bluepair. Had they died? This wasn't real thread. So how was that possible? No, they couldn't be... The more he thought about what the evidence pointed at, the more upset he got. He didn't particularly like Iskierka, but that didn't mean he wanted her and her dragon dead.

In his frantic searching, J'ash hardly noticed a clump coming towards him in time. The panic in the rider caused the blue-green dragon to swerve in an unstable, emergency-like fashion. Mine, calm down. They cannot be dead. This is not real thread.

Then explain to me why I can't see them!

Maybe they've b[/color]etweened elsewhere.[/i]

That makes no sense! It's Iskierka we're talking about. She's a hardass. She would never interrupt lessons like this.

The pair were distracted in their mental rebuttal - too distracted to notice a clump of thread falling towards them. The weyrling's heart nearly erupted from his throat. He shouted in panic as the clump hit Craivaruth's side, painting the ill-looking matte hide as it bounced off and kept falling. No, no, no, Crai was hit, he was going to die! Leaning as far as possible to try to see the damage, Craivaruth rumbled in amusement at his freaking-out rider. It's still fake thread, J'ashmine. I'm not hurt in the least.

A flood of upset-relief filled J'ash, and he leaned forward to hug what he could of his dragon. He'd really been scared the Blue had been hurt...

My clutchsiblings, the Blue said while flaming falling clumps, shall we continue to flame this 'thread', or shall we look for Ioth and His?

[Ember]

"Good acting, Ioth," Iskierka praised her dragon. While her tone was as monotone as ever her thoughts were slightly warmer. She was borrowing the blue's eyesight to help her keep tabs on the weyrlings. She leaned on the blue's foreleg, the smirk still on her face. Quietly amused, she was. The weyrlings were holding up better than she expected though she attributed that to the dragons and not the boys. Dy'shi and L'nu were young, still at the age that they looked to others to lead. There was also the high likelihood that following was in their personalities. Such was the nature of a bluerider for the most part.

She let the weyrlings do as they willed for a bit longer. The assisting rider would soon be out of threads to drop anyways. If they abandoned the fall she could chew them out about it too. The assistant's dragon contacted Ioth as the last of the thread was released and the bluerider climbed back onto the brown's back. He launched into the air in a complicated way. It was a habit formed from Ciceroth's order to always launch to make it harder to be a target. When they had enough room she gave Ioth coordinates for the jump.

The pair arrived in the skies above the weyrlings as the last of the threads fell. Ioth trumpeted a greeting to his weyrlings pleasantly. Hello again, weyrlings! We got you go- His happy playful tones suddenly vanished as His reminded him that it was inappropriate at the time. Sorry, IskierkaHis. We had you experience three types of fall. The first type you experienced is usually so light because of weather conditions. If it's cold enough, for example, Thread with freeze and die before it even reaches us.

The second type is more common and likely what you'll be trained with more. As for the third type, it is the most difficult type of Fall. The clumps take longer to burn and can do more damage than a single Thread. You must always be on high alert during any Fall, but be especially wary about clumps, the blue said, debriefing the lesson as if he hadn't disappeared part way through. He proceeded to give some tips to each pair. Dy'shi needed to keep a better eye on Thread while feeding Chakraith firestone. L'nu needed to not panic. J'ash also needed to be more aware.

Then Ioth finally addressed his vanishing act. It is also vital you do not panic when your leader is taken out. It is not generally the role of blues to assume leadership after their leader is gone. If the Wingsecond does not or cannot fill their shoes, as the humans say, then you must not panic. There may be an extremely rare case where you will have to fill in for them. A wing cannot be leaderless or others will not know who to look to and chaos will result. This applies to both Thread and battle. May we all land now please?

When Ioth landed Iskierka dismounted and looked at all the weyrlings. "Well, Ioth has told your dragons what you need to know. Ask them about it," she said sharply. She wouldn't repeat what she had, more or less, dictated to Ioth. "The only one of you who would have survived was Dy'shi, though he had some close calls, not to mention Chakraith was not so lucky. Could have been worse though, for a first time. So congratulations and whatever on passing the final lesson. If you have any questions ask me through Ioth later. For now, tend to your dragons. As long as you guys don't do anything stupid and you actually practice you guys should live for a while. Now, go away. Lesson's over." With that Iskierka started towards the river so she could let Ioth wash off.

((Too lazy to do Dy. Chakraith got hit a little more. She also suggested that since real thread would not wait for a fallen comrade they should continue fighting it.))

[dragon]

The last of the 'thread' was burned, and Ioth reappeared as if nothing had ever happened. Paglieth stayed any questions he might have had, listening to the horribly long lecture that came right on the tail of the older Blue's rearrival. Interesting. We died and yet we lived, we failed and yet we passed, I am confused. He told L'nu privately, who was hurriedly checking all his pockets as his dragon went in for a landing.

He prayed he wouldn't find anything in any of them.

Paglieth landed neatly, and settled, looking over at his siblings a moment, thinking. Did you hear that? All we have to do is something stupid and we'll live just fine. Paglieth told the other two.

[Shiny]

J'ash's heart nearly stopped when the AWOL Bluepair reappeared in the air. So, they were alive! A small smile made its way onto his mouth. Despite his dislike/fear of Iskierka, he was glad she and Hers were okay. I told you there was nothing to worry about, Craivaruth rumbled, and J'ash rubbed his matte neck soothingly. I'm sorry I didn't listen.

The blue-green dragon listened respectfully to what Ioth had to say before filling J'ash in. Yes, he needed to be more careful in a Fall, or the pair would be doomed. But hopefully they'd get better at it before real Thread came around. Landing with the rest of the class, J'ash watched the Weyrlingmaster and her Blue go to the river before inspecting his own clothes and dragon. Covered in paint, of course! They defintely would have died if it was real thread. The blonde sighed. It was going to take a lot of work to get all of this paint off of the both of them.

Craivaruth gave an amused rumble to his clutchsiblings. Yes, Paglieth. All we need to do is something stupid, and we'll be fine.