Yummy Weyrling Lesson 9

[Kisha-Ra]

The younger boy beside him K’fuzzi ignored but for a nod, since T’mund’s question didn’t actually seem to require an answer, the green weyrling was to caught up in his own thoughts. Now it seemed they suddenly had a flood of teachers, as two blueriders arrived in quick succession, frankly the older woman looked rather more capable than M’kai and his chubby blue, but youth of rider and shape of dragon aside they seemed to know what they were doing. For now at least.

K’fuzzi didn’t sit when he was told he might want to, he was certain he looked more confident stood up, if he sat he’d surely tremble or curl into a ball. A spark of hope rose briefly in K’fuzzi’s mind, he could not do it? Oh wait, that would get him shame before his classmates, extra tutoring, probably upset Balath, and in the end he still have to go, or be useless his entire life. Plenty of riders went between and came out again every day, K’fuzzi told himself firmly. All you had to do was concentrate.

Balath was a great deal more enthusiastic than K’fuzzi, and probably would have jumped at the chance to go first if Jagith hadn’t already volunteered, and after the brownpair came safely through things seemed to pick up naturally as first Shith, then Amalath, followed the brownpair’s success with their own. Then T’ris and Pravinth…

A freezing shiver ran over K’fuzzi’s body as the distressed sounds of the dragons around him, Balath’s normally vivid striped hide managed to grey out somewhat as the large green flared her wings and keened softly for her brother. T’ris and Pravinth wouldn’t be coming out. Ever.

Somehow things continued. Losses were expected, if anyone was going to get lost between, it was probably going to be now. Dhavalth. Kamath, Viveth, K’fuzzi counted off the weyrlings that emerged at the other end of the field, maybe everyone had learned from what had happened to Pravinth. Or not. The second wave of keening went up, chilling K’fuzzi further. Nandath has joined Pravinth.[/color] Balath’s head hung low with sorrow and all K’fuzzi could do was run a hand comfortingly over her neck and try to stay calm. Tarath also.[/color] The green added as another keen, this time one K’fuzzi had expected when the other green pair didn’t reappear, left her throat.

Are you sure you want to do this Balath? K’fuzzi asked. Balath lifted her head a little and looked at him, her facial marking looking a lot less comical while her eyes whirled with distressed shades. Yes. We must, we can. We just have to be careful Fuzzimine. That’s all. Careful.[/color] And before K’fuzzi could question her any further the striped green stepped forward and touched Eveyth briefly in a request for her coordinates. She passed it dutiftlly on to K’fuzzi, who sent it back for checking.

K’fuzzi felt calm, now that it came to the moment, but it was definitely the kind of thin icy veneer of calm that could shatter at any second. It even sent his fingers and toes icy through his gloves and boots. Amazing. Balath was clearly concentrating, the image was sharp, and just as sharp when she confirmed it for him. Balath took off confidently, soaring to a good height before he sent the coordinates again. Let it consume your mind, be that place, where the trees grow thus and the rocks are so.

One. Two. Three.

Sensation returned, although vision did not, and that, K’fuzzi realised, was because his eyes were closed. Ah he was alive then, and in the right place, excellent. Balath squealed her happiness as she landed, and Jubilee looped around the pair of them chattering. Apparently the firelizard was pleased with them.

[kat]

The lesson was going on smoothly enough. T'lor was sitting comfortably with Shith as they were joined by Amalath. The brownpair who had gone first had made it successfully and while T'lor had heard that usually one Weyrling was lost to between it suddenly became more than something he'd heard. Shith's bright blue hide suddenly began turning a dull grey-blue in pallor. Confused only for a moment, T'lor registered what had happened as the blue gave a horrible keen. The next pair to go hadn't come back. T'lor's stomach churned uncomfortably. Suddenly he was glad that Shith and he had gone before that had happened. While the pair were usually confident he felt bad for anyone who would go next. Things didn't end there, however. Twice more Shith sorrowfully keened the loss of dragon and rider. Three deaths? Was that the normal way of it? Wasn't it too many?

Shith moved closer to Amalath both to give and gain comfort. The blue was un-customarily silent now and his eyes were a horrible yellow-grey. T'lor, too, was silent. The ones who went next he had to admire. After three deaths there were more successes. Yet how had that happened at all? Shith finally broke his silence to give a low and saddened croon. They had not been his clutchsiblings but all dragons were kindred.

"It's okay, buddy. We're gonna' be fine. We made it an' so did lots of others. It's gonna' be fine," he repeated, patting the blue's hide. He'd never seen Shith's hide such a horrid color. Usually it was light blue and bright, marked by the lovely dark blue spots that made him so unique in T'lor's eyes. The dark blue was also lighter and had a grey tinge to it. T'lor wasn't surprised to see the relief on the faces of those who made it through successfully. He couldn't even imagine how those training them today must have felt. The losses weren't their faults--of that he was sure--and yet they had been losses under their tutelage. He frowned and tried not to think on it. Shith was thinking on it plenty enough for the both of them and so he strengthened his thoughts towards positivity. They had made it and others had made it. They were alive and they would learn from the mistakes made by the ones who had not come back...

Shith's hide began to slowly return to his normal color. The confidence and reassurance of his rider had indeed been helping. They were not done with the lesson today and they would have to remember that they had been successful and would continue to be, as would the others. With that confidence and optimism in mind they watched as more Weyrlings joined them on their side of the field, one by one.

[Requiem]

Eveyth moved, just enough to draw X'rx from the little corner of his mind where he didn't so much think as feel. It was a quiet, solemn place, peaceful in its own way. He blinked, just catching sight of M'kai stalking back out, the boy's - when had he become a boy in X'rx's eyes? - eyes reddened. He remembered that Meagan was important to the twins, then, though he couldn't recall if Cr'oph had ever mentioned how or not. Somehow, though, he doubted the bronzeweyrling would have been so obvious in his grief. The young bluerider would be of little if any help. A glance at Iskierka, and X'rx realized that, for all intents and purposes, the class was his now. As it had been at the beginning. The woman didn't intend to do anything more than watch unless she was needed... Even having only known her for a few months, the stance was clear, and in some ways he was thankful for it; Iskierka was a cold woman. Colder than Darya, who was merely hard.

X'rx would likely never be seen as cold or hard.

The greenweyrling moved toward the knot of weyrlings. Had it gone smooth, they should have kept jumping, until it felt so natural that the nervousness disappeared. He would have insisted on it even if there'd been one disappearance. It was the quickest way to get rid of ghosts and doubts. But three was enough to shake up anyone - even if it wasn't so unusual if you looked at records, and why he had done so when it would only make him more nervous, he was still unsure - and X'rx was loathe to risk any more of them. There were times to push through and then there were times to regroup. He thought this to be one of the latter. Pravinth. Nandath. Tarath. Eveyth cast a shadow above as she came to settle not far from him, a saddened croon offered to the names.

X'rx's voice wasn't loud, but it didn't have to be in the hush. Surprisingly, the uncertainty and stumbling of before was gone; if anything, the young man sounded tired. "Between is one of the most dangerous things you'll be asked to do as weyrlings. You should be proud that you accomplished it. It's okay to be proud - to be happy - for yourselves. I can't say why some succeed and some don't. Maybe the older riders could tell you. Death can do one of two things. If you dwell on it, shoulder and place blame, then it will destroy you. But if you take the time to mourn and help the people around you, if you strengthen each other, then it will become a hardship that you overcame as a class, and your class will be the better for it. Your classmates that are gone would want to see you stronger, not see you fall apart."

X'rx wasn't sure if words would do any good. He wasn't sure if he could do any good. But he owed it to them to try. "Remember why you became a dragonrider, and hold onto that. Hold onto that and come back tomorrow ready to jump Between again and again until you forget why you were ever nervous. Look around tonight at all the dragonriders. Look at me. Some of us are really pretty pathetic, mm? But we do it, and so can you. You have. But today we're going to let you go early, to do what it is you need to." He paused, then. "There are firepits left over from the outdoor kitchens we used while rennovating. If you wish, I can ask my mother for the supplies and we can have our dinner together, just us beneath the open sky. There's room enough for all the dragons here. You'll have to tell me if you want to come, though, so I can know how much to ask her for."