Fear lesson eight

[Kisha-Ra]

Darya was seriously beginning to dislike the sight of the training field, and it showed. Currently she was leaning back against her dragon’s foreleg, with her arms folded across her chest, wearing an expression that would probably vaporise a few people if only looks could kill.

Stop sulking. You’ve said yourself, we’re more than halfway through these lessons. Azrath twitched his leg just enough to make his rider wobble on her feet. Besides I’m calling them anyway. Or we’ll never get anything done today.[/color] Azrath had his doubts that anything was going to get done today anyway but he lived in hope, or so he claimed, Lesson time. he projected shortly into the minds of the weyrling dragons and riders.

[Rei]

Mavenath back winged to land neatly on the training field, offering a croon to the bluepair in greeting as his dismounted. Cr’oph neatly landed and then strode up to Darya. As he got closer and saw her expression he faltered for a moment. What is up with her? She looks like she got something shoved somewhere very unpleasant. The bronze gave a mental snort. Pay attention. Sure whatever. “Good afternoon Darya.” The bronzeweyrling started pleasantly. “What is on the agenda for today?”

~~~

Feyrianth and Erilena arrived shortly after the bronze pair although unlike Mavenath the four winged green was not flying. Instead she had just elected to walk to lessons. Erilena trotting along beside her. Giving a hesitant croon to Mavenath, out of the desire to be polite, Feyrianth settled dragon lengths away from the bronze. There she awaited both the arrival of her other siblings and the lesson plan for today. Erilena started in the direction of Cr’oph and Darya and upon drawing close to them frowned. Whatever had Darya looking so angry surely wasn’t good.

(fail post x.o)

[rii]

Cheerful.
As always.
Does she have a reason?
It's too bright out?

Trilaranth gave a low snort from where he lounged against the grass. The brown's tail tip made lazy flicks through the air as he continued to watch the weyrlingmaster. R'ven, on the other hand, wasn't even vaguely looking in Darya's direction. Didn't care for her mood, didn't care to know, and wasn't going to indulge the moment by inquiring her what was wrong. Surely they would all know given time – seemed she couldn't keep it from dribbling out during lessons.

You're cheerful too. R'ven gave his amused brown a frank stare but opted not to comment on the matter. Trilaranth laid his head down, centering one whirling green eye on his rider. Is it too bright for you too?

It was only a short moment after that Trilaranth lost interest in hazing his rider. Others were arriving, and the brown couldn't resist crooning a greeting to each of his arriving green sisters (yes, his blue sister didn't quite earn the same recognition).

[Ember]

Chakraith lead the young bluepair for once, Hers being rather distracted by something a drudge had mentioned the other day. It had bothered him and continued to bother him. The blue paused and nosed Dy'shi lightly. Why don't you ask Darya? Perhaps she'll know. What was bothering the young rider concerned his dragon and who better to ask than his Weyrlingmaster?

"Alright, Chak." He sighed and picked up his pace. When they got there he immediately noticed the difference in Triliranth's behaviour towards his beloved blue. He was extremely defensive of Chakraith and he viewed not greeting her like the greens was unfair to her. As usual, she was unfazed by it and merely nudged Hers along. No need to get angry over it.

The weyrling frowned but continued forward even when Chakraith stopped nudging him. It hardly seemed right to him to let the brown get away with being rude to his dragon but she had a point. Lessons were important. He tilted his head and looked at Darya's expression. She looked mad...and that probably wasn't a good thing for them. Joy.

[Requiem]

Lesson tiiiime! Eveyth announced from the air, her happy call brushing all dragon and human minds in the immediate vicinity. All while X'rx clung to her neck and struggled not to be ill. For all that he'd ridden upon other dragons on occasion, it had always been a fairly straightforward ride...nothing like the green's playful loops. Yes. Loops. She wasn't doing anything more difficult than that - Eveyth was logical enough not to attempt anything where she was likely to lose control and get them hurt - but she'd learned loops and she enjoyed them. Just looping along like writing that funny flowing script you found on some of the scrolls through the sky.

Oh no now they were going down...fortunately Eveyth finally took note of his unease and laid off the loops in favor of a steady glide. Too fast. Directly at Azrath. No, no, she'd adjusted and was touching down in front of Azrath now, backwinging just as they'd been shown and running as soon as her legs touched ground. A happy thrill shot through his blood - completely Eveyth's - as his stomach did another series of flips. Slowing, it would have been a rather skillful entrance all things considered...if her claws hadn't gotten stuck in the ground. Fortunately she'd slowed to a half-trot by then and the resulting faceplant, while completely graceless, didn't hurt her or the young man clinging to her neck for dear life. Her wings fluttered, before she flopped onto her side (careful of Hers) and commented for everyone to hear with a shimmer of amusement, Oops.

The greenweyrling slid off her neck bonelessly, landing on hands and knees, then proceeded to stretch out on the ground and press his cheek to the wonderful, wonderful earth. Thank Faranth! He was tempted to kiss it, but settled for nuzzling the ground instead, feeling his insides slowly settling back into their original configuration.

[mierce]

WHOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Flying was probably not everybody’s thing, but as far as Cer’c was concerned, flying is the next best thing after breathing. And maybe eating. Legs secured tightly to the saddle with leather straps, Cer’c was leaning back in his seat, arms stretched overhead and left to the whims of the air whipping by as he visually goaded Harmonyth to make yet another loop and a sharp turn. “YEAAAAA!!!!” He wooted, his voice lost in the wind.

The green, built for speed and tight turns, happily obliged. She might have been a bit uneasy at the absolute trust Hers put into the integrity of the straps which was all that kept him from flying out of his seat, but his absolute confidence and trust in the entire situation won her over. In the back of her mind though, Harmonyth still questioned the wisdom of their antics but the sheer joy from her rider sufficiently distracted her from the doubt.

Harmonyth circled tightly above the training field before spiraling down to a spot. She flared her wings to cushion their descent, finally landing with a soft thud, dust spiraling around her feet. On her neck, Cer’c was a ball of muffled giggles as he loosened himself from the leather. LoveMine, calm yourself, she said gently, nuzzling him with her nose.

Okay okay, the boy promised lightly, a smile forcing his flushed cheeks upward. With one last tug, he freed the final bindings and rolled gracelessly to the ground. “Ooof.”

While Hers righted and dusted off himself, Harmonyth bowed her head to Azrath and His. Darya seems angry, she noted quietly to Cer’c.

The boy looked up to examine the assistant Weyrlingmaster, and wrinkled his nose. She always does.

[Kisha-Ra]

Azrath crooned happily to the arriving dragons, gently brushing each mid with a greeting, and if his greetings towards the greens (and Chakraith, who might be blue but was also female) were just a little warmer and more welcoming, well he liked greens as much as the next blue.

Darya pushed away from Azrath, her frown smoothing slightly as weyrlings began to trickle in from wherever they hid these days. ‘Strap inspection, then take offs from level ground, which I gather some people have been practicing,’ Darya’s mouth quirked up as Eveyth and Harmonyth arrived on the wing in quick succession, with very different rider reactions. ‘and flight training will be replacing ground drill.’

Darya looked down at X’rx, who was apparently hugging the ground, and decided she was going to ignore that for the moment. There was just nothing she could say to that. ‘Yes Dy’shi?’ She transferred her attention to the blueweyrling who’d been poked in her direction by his dragon.

It was very good up until, you fell.[/color] Azrath commented on Eveyth’s landing. You just need some practice.[/color]

[Rei]

Mavenath mantled his wings and arched his neck as he regarded his smaller companions. A loud croon was given to the arriving greens. You both fly so lovely. I am impressed. He dipped his nose to touch Eveyth’s neck lightly. How will I ever compare to such grace. His voice held a wistful tone but it was clearly playful as he reared up on back legs to flap his oh so impressive wing span. Falling back to the ground with ground shaking force he rumbled.

Cr’oph snorted at his dragon and began to try and salvage his now wind tossed hair. Seriously? Stop flirting with your sisters and pay attention. Wing drills will replace ground drills now. You ready? There was excitement in his mental tone and the bronze dipped his head. As always. The red head made his way to the large bronze to unbuckle the straps and join the line to present them to Darya. Finally they would be doing some real flying.

~~~

Feyrianth shifted nervously as her bonded removed her straps. Oh I don’t know. Gliding off a hill is one thing but this is different Lenalovemine. I am nervous. The weyrling smiled and grabbed her dragon’s muzzle to still it. “You’ll do fine Fey. I know you will.” Pressing a kiss to the soft hide Erilena finished unbuckling the straps and joined the line. Inwardly she was just as nervous as Feyrianth.

Gliding was still difficult for the green due to the way her wings where positioned. Back winging was nothing short of dangerous for her sometimes. Her trailing wing membrane came horribly close to her back talons on the down stroke. One screw up and she could tear the wing, catch it on a claw, or worse. Swallowing down her nervousness the weyrling shifted in line and tried to keep herself calm. Feyrianth was nervous enough for the both of them.

[rii]

Trilaranth rumbled and upon feeling the amusement coming across the bond, R'ven glanced back at his dragon, then beyond to the source of his amusement. Wants to run the weyr, does my brother, and I wonder what he will do when he catches himself a gold and she doesn't appreciate his fondness for our lovely greensisters. Throw him out on his rump I suppose. A smugness replaced the amusement as Trilaranth watched Mavenath's little display put on for the class. But there was no need to one-up his bronzebrother.

Easing up into a sitting position, the brown curled his long tail around his front legs. He opened his wings just enough to keep them out of the way of the straps..of which R'ven didn't remove. Part of him wanted to have them inspected more that they were on the large brown properly now rather than take them off and possibly putting them on wrong before the take off. Trilaranth didn't do the aerial stunts like the smaller dragons – aside from being unable to do such things R'ven didn't enjoy it, and Trilaranth found it a waste of energy. But if the straps were poorly made to snap he wouldn't be too much in danger. Or so he thought. The smith gave the straps a critical eye.

So not looking forward to lessons in the sky. Made him stomach do a few flip flops just thinking about it. I can hardly leave you on the ground. I'll deal with it. I wasn't going to give you a choice in the matter. I don't have to climb on your back. I'll just pick you up, would you like to fly that way instead? No.. Good, then the matter is settled.

"Pain in my backside." R'ven grumbled to his dragon would tugging at the straps.

[Ember]

At the mention of a strap inspection Dy'shi glanced at the harness on his dragon. He hoped it was alright considering he had been using it when he got Chakraith to practice flying. It would be kind of scary if it wasn't safe to use. The boy liked heights but he wasn't suicidal, thanks. He had no need to get Chakraith to rear back. He was small enough that he scurried under her easily enough. He did need Chakraith's help to properly remove the harness but once that was done he sighed with relief.

Dy'shi and Chakraith watched the rather spectacular entrance of X'rx and Eveyth. The boy envied the green's loops. Chakraith's flying was always fairly placid and straight. No daring stunts or high speeds. He loved the excitement of flying but his blue clearly did not care one way or the other. He leaned against her and felt the faint warmth from her mind. It was one thing others didn't get to see much from Chakraith. She was fully capable of being caring but most didn't bother to talk to the blue. She was a very quiet dragon, rarely speaking unless spoken to first.

Dy'shi joined the inspection line up as Darya turned her attention to him. He jumped slightly but managed to say, "Umm, after lessons or during a pause or something can I talk to you? About..." He made a vague gesture in the direction of Chakraith. He didn't really want to ask with everyone around and able to overhear. He didn't even really want to bother Darya with his worries but he had to know.

[Kisha-Ra]

Darya grinned slightly as Azrath did what she could only describe as a mental eyeroll at Mavenath’s behaviour. The blue was far too used to being the only mature male in this grouping, and while it certainly occurred to him that the females were maturing, it never seemed to occur to him that the males were doing the same, he was far too used to thinking of them as babies.

With a trace of amusment at her dragon’s expense still in her expression Darya began taking straps from her students, running the leather through her hands and tugging on it to check every buckle was securely attached mostly she was satisfied, weyrlings who’d just taken to flying tended to be careful with their equipment, the fear of falling was still strong in them. ‘J’neas, Casta, K’lin.’ At last Darya’s voice snapped out, her eyes flicking to weyrlings in question. ‘Not good enough. Go repair your equipment, and don’t come back here with damaged straps expecting to fly.’ Her finger stabbed in the direction of the barracks. ‘The rest of you, harness up those beasts.’ Darya instructed a little more cheerfully, moving towards her own dragon and equipment. Passing Dy’shi she nodded. ‘I think it’s going to have to be after the lesson. Our first airborne drill isn’t going to give us many pauses.’ Darya didn’t like to admit that Dy’shi probably knew more about his female blue than she could ever hope to, but it was possible he had a question Darya could answer.


((oh the poor inactives... >D))

[Rei]

Cr’oph just trotted back to Mavenath when his straps where passed. Well of course they would be. He knew exactly what he was doing. He wasn’t some dim glow. Mavenath snorted in response to that though and crouched down to allow his to fasten the straps. Giving a few tugs and content that they where tightened properly the weyrling smiled and patted the dragon’s neck. “Right then. Ready Mave?” If I wasn’t I wouldn’t still be standing here. The red head rolled his eyes and then swung himself up on the dragon with one fluid motion. Settling himself comfortably he fastened the straps and waited for Darya’s instructions.

The bronze arched his neck and crooned to his siblings. Come then my brothers and sisters. Today we will finally fly together. Twitching his tail tip he waited impatiently. The bluepair was taking far too long.

~~~

Erilena was not surprised her straps passed inspection but on her way back to Feyrianth she was more than a little nervous. Her green didn’t want to fly. She could feel it and wells he wasn’t exactly sure how Darya would take it. Gliding was all well and good and they had practiced, but flying was a different matter entirely. Fastening the straps on the green she smiled and stroked down the green’s muzzle.

“You want to give it a go Fey?” Ducking her head the green nudged hers lightly. Not right now no. My clutch siblings can do it. I would rather watch them. The greenweyrling sighed nodded. When everyone else moved to mount she just stood beside Feyrianth, stroking the green’s muzzle absently. She was waiting for Darya to say something. She would tell her yes, but she didn’t want to have to yell over the sounds of restless dragons and speaking classmates.