Tidal Weyrlings (Junior Lesson Four)

[weaving]

(NOTE:I will give everyone two days to respond to this before I post again.)

“Good morning everyone. I hope you all slept well last night. Today will be relatively easy, I hope. We’ll be going over rider and dragon nutrition. It is equally important to take good care of your own body as well as that of your bonded. You’ll also be learning how to make your first set of fighting straps. Later, you’ll be meeting me out in the training field.” I’fael stood before his class, sweeping his gaze over the lot of them and glancing briefly into each of their eyes. There were some empty seats, a thing that caused I’fael to frown slightly, though he kept his irritation in check. Why punish those who did show up with his wrath? No, he would seek out those who refused to show later. Perhaps a threat to repeat all lessons and join Aslath’s upcoming clutch would do the trick.

Someone is in a bad mood, Morendoth teased, causing I’fael to grind his teeth together. Not now, he snapped, wringing his hands together behind his back. He hadn’t been sleeping well lately. With no assistant weyrlingmaster having been found yet, he was forced to take on both weyrling classes, cutting down on the time that he could spend with each class. Hopefully someone suitable would be found soon; he didn’t think that he could handle much more of this. No wonder F’rah had gotten terribly sick. There was simply no time to worry about his own health, and yet here he was, preparing to lecture his students on how to keep healthy. Hypocrite.

“Health is extremely important. Why? If you aren’t perfectly healthy, you can’t fight thread. If you are ill, your dragon worries and neglects his or her own health. If you die, so does your dragon. So then, how do we keep ourselves healthy? First of all, three meals a day. That means no skipping breakfast. If you have been, wake up earlier so that you can grab something to eat before lessons start. I want no more rumbling stomachs in my classroom. Also, watch what you consume. Too many sweets and you won’t even be able to lift yourself onto your own dragon’s back. You are what you eat.” I’fael dove into his lecture with enthusiasm, using all of the energy his irritation had created in a more productive manner. Quickly he wrote things down on the board before turning back to his class.

“Now, I want to go around the room. Each of you share what you had to eat yesterday. After that I’ll give you some pointers. We’ll do this again at the next lesson to see if you’ve heeded my advice. Alright, lets start on this side. You, go first.” He pointed to a weyrling at random, mentally cursing himself for not having yet memorized their names completely. Oh well.

Roll Call
Ki’ner of Bronze Aberath
M’ta of Brown Behruth
R’wign of Brown Checkoth
F’neth of Blue Kloth
Raila of Blue Imprith
K’iel of Blue Qualuth
V’neti of Blue Glenth (APC)
Vashti of Green Wymeth
Tr’esn of Green Oquith
Kalina of Green Uminth

One post
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Three posts

[Avu]

The lack of crashing to wake them up nearly had Tr'esn skipping in pleasure. What a short while ago it seemed that Lauranna had been bursting their eardrums! Not that he'd been asleep when Morendoth and I'fael called them to lessons, but that didn't make him any less grateful that the man had no urge to give them all headaches first thing in the morning. Oquith had been sleeping, though, her head snuggled in his lap and her legs sprawled every which way, resulting in a very undignified scuffle as the greenweyrlingpair disentangled themselves from each other and from the furs, Tr'esn cracking a smile as Oquith scrabbled to her feet and stretched every muscle, her wings straining as her tail leveled off the ground before she nuzzled his palm affectionately, commenting, I'm ready! "You could've stayed asleep a little longer, till we actually go onto the training field," Tr'esn pointed out mildly, planting a kiss on the green's head. "I just needed you to get off of me." Well, I'm awake now. Let's go!

The classroom had been surprisingly empty when the greenweyrling entered, having left Oquith outside to sun herself. The green, however, had other ideas, and had her nose pressed against the window, trying to see in. He isn't very cheerful, the hatchling commented, with a slight sigh. Tr'esn peeked through his curls at I'fael, biting his lip worriedly. Had he done something wrong? As the man's gaze swept around to him, the greenweyrling dropped his gaze immediately, cheeks flushing as he caught the motion. Unconsciously, he rubbed his palm with his other hand as I'fael started to lecture them...health? Healthy? Tr'esn blinked, his large gray eyes swiveling upwards to watch the Weyrlingmaster write on the board. Pity he was all but illiterate, or he would have written it down for himself. As it was, it'd probably turn out looking more like a wherry had gotten ink on its feet than anything else.

You are healthy, and we /will/ fight Thread! Oquith stated, clearly puzzled by the lecturing. Of course you are. Why wouldn't you be? I wouldn't let you be unhealthy! Tr'esn blinked, running his fingers through his hair and tugging at a curl uncertainly. Some people aren't. Aren't healthy? Wouldn't it be better to - oh! Tr'esnmine, he means you! Tell him![/color] The greenweyrling froze, nearly twitching in shock as Oquith's tone changed from confused to urgent, the green giving him a mental prod as her muzzle squeaked against the glass audibly outside. Him? His eyes flicked up, and yes, I'fael was pointing at him. The only word that came out was a pitiful "Me?" The single word shot through an octave, and Tr'esn swallowed convulsively, struggling to remember.

"Umm...klah and a fishroll and a redfruit, for breakfast..." Yes, that much he remembered. Then what? "Juice, and...um, some roast tubers and bread..." You forgot! You brought a meatroll out to the river. You ate it. About two candlemarks before lunch! Oquith interjected. Tr'esn flushed. "Sorry, um, I had a meatroll before lunch. And for dinner, roast wherry, tubers, bread, and water." He finished in a rush, and dropped his gaze immediately afterwards, cheeks flushed. You're embarrassed? Why? That's healthy, isn't it? You didn't eat any cake or sweets or really much sugar at all...so why so embarrassed? That's good! ...isn't it? Oquith added, after a moment of contemplation. I don't know. /He/ knows, I guess.[/size]

[weaving]

As the green weyrling began to speak, I’fael focused on the boy’s face, racking his brain as he attempted to recall the boy’s name. Ah, Tr’esn, that was it. He rode green Oquith, the names coming easily now that he had remembered one of them. A quick glance around the room showed it to be nearly empty. Not a good sign at all. How did these youngsters expect to become decent riders if they never came to classes? Why, they’d probably break their necks first time they tried to fly, and when it came time to /between/…I’fael’s stomach flip-flopped nervously at the thought. No, the majority of this group wouldn’t last long at all. Well, he’d have to thank Tr’esn at the end of the lesson for always being prompt. Those who did as they were required deserved some sort of reward, even if it was only verbal.

As the boy’s list of what he had eaten yesterday came to a halt, I’fael graced the boy with a smile. It seemed as though at least one of his weyrlings were healthy. “Very good. The rest of the class could stand to learn a few things from you young man.” That is, if they were here to learn them, the weyrlingmaster added darkly, though he kept that thought to himself. “If anything, I would recommend eating more in the coming months. Though lessons may not seem too strenuous now, we’ll be increasing our amounts of physical exercise as we continue. A growing body needs all the nutrients it can get. Don’t take that as an invitation to indulge in sweets though. Adding fish to your diet will help to build muscle, and it’s low in fat as well. Over all, very good Tr’esn.”

Well, that part was over, seeing as there weren’t any others to discuss this with. Ah well. Once he talked to them, they’d shape up. This simply wasn’t acceptable. Perhaps a word or two to the candidate master to weed out the lazy ones might help with the next group. Later. For now, Tr’esn would get to do something much more interesting. Smiling, the man strode to a corner of the room where he had stored leather straps of various sizes and a few charts, grabbing them and bringing them back over to where Tr’esn sat.

“Now we get to the fun part. I’ll be teaching you how to make your first set of fighting straps for Oquith today. Why don’t you call her in here. It’ll make taking her measurements much easier.” As he spoke, I’fael began to carefully lay things out. “We’ll be following these basic plans, though every dragon is different so adjustments will be made. We’ll be making these straps large enough so that you won’t need to make anymore until after your first flight. That being said, you’d better make these to the best of your abilities. Having your leathers snap in mid-flight is never a good thing.”

He grabbed a few different pieces of leather, each flawed in some way, to show the weyrling. It would be important that he be able to differentiate between sound leather and that of poor quality. Of course the weyr only stocked the best, but occasionally bad bits did manage to get in there. It would also be useful knowledge for maintaining his straps so that he knew when they would need replacing. “Here take these; see if you can identify anything wrong with them. Two of them are flawed and one of them is sound.” Handing the leather to Tr’esn, I’fael sat back and watched to see if the boy would pass this test. If not, no matter. Most weyrlings had little tanning background and it would be easy enough to teach. But if Tr’esn was able to identify them correctly, it would save them that much more time.

[Avu]

By the time he finished speaking, Tr'esn expected the lessons room to be completely full. Quite the opposite, though; it was - empty. Which only served to unnerve the Greenweyrling more as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat, blinkng uneasily at I'fael as the man spoke. See! I told you it was healthy, Oquith commented cheerfully, spreading her wings to gather the sun outside and almost humming in pleasure, but Tr'esn only nodded meekly at the Weyrlingmaster's advice. Eat more! Funny, that, considering he thought he was already feasted every day. He'd eaten much, much less when he'd been at Lighttower Hold, and sweets had been all but nonexistant to him there, and - well, Tr'esn didn't want to gorge. He didn't comment, though; he could deal with a few more mouthfuls, he supposed. Though Oquith ate enough for both of them, he thought wryly.

Fighting straps? For his Qui? He brightened noticeably, his large, luminous eyes lighting up; Oquith's hum of delight made itself felt in his mind as the green caught the thought as well. Call her in. Qui - he started, but already the green had pushed open the door with her muzzle and all but streaked across the room towards Tr'esn, her excitement emerging in the form of a pleased croon. Fighting straps! Fighting straps, Tr'emine, fighting straps, I said we'd fight Thread and fly and flame and we will! In an excess of joy, she butted her head under his elbow until he reminded her that this was a lesson and she had to be calm, whereupon she promptly sat down, furling her wings again and staring expectantly at I'fael.

Leather. Pieces of leather...Tr'esn took the three from the Weyrlingmaster hesitantly, glancing at Oquith, who blinked silently at him. "Um..." He had absolutely no knowledge of the quality of leather, or, for that matter, the quality of fabric or - well, anything else, really. He'd never had the chance, nor the incentive, to learn...well, this wouldn't be too difficult, surely? The Greenweyrling cocked his head, considering it. One of them was probably obvious, the other more subtle, these imperfections. But - well, he just didn't know. A crack, on this one; that wasn't good...he nervously set it down, glance flicking to I'fael nervously, and then back to the remaining two pieces of leather. He tried. He really, really did try, but - neither seemed overly bad to him.

"I...can't tell, between these," he admitted, wrapping his fingers around the strips of leather almost convulsively, as if he expected to be told off. A soft croon and hide touched his forearm. Automatically, Tr'esn absently showed Oquith the strips of leather, and the hatchling sniffed at them, and then blinked, her rainbow eyes clearly bewildered. They're not cracked. What's wrong with them? "That's what I'm trying to find, Qui." Tr'esn grinned faintly, placing the leather on the desk and taking the time to glance over the diagrams before up at I'fael, biting his lip.

[archenstone]

Kalina came in with Uminth from outside. Uminth followed her...eyes moving in mild agitation.
Uminth I know you like to sleep outside...but going to some place along the river and getting caught on a ledge is not the place to do it! Now we are late and in disarray.[/b] Uminth looked up at her mine...she knew Kalina was trying to be calm about it but was rather irritated. I'm sorry mine...but the stone was shiny there....and there where these pretty flowers on these vines....and the river rumbled beneath so pleasantly....and the stars! The best view yet mine. Maybe I can take you back one evening....you like stars.

Kalina tried to look presentable... but it was obvious she had been working hard with something. There was still a small leaf stuck to her back. She walked up to a seat and stopped...shocked. She was late... and there was only one other here? Did everyone's dragon get stuck some where today? She looked at I’fael, still not sitting. Uminth stood beside her.

"Weyrlingmaster I’fael, I apologize for Uminth's and mine lateness to class. We will take every effort not to repeat this in the future."

[weaving]

As the green hatchling ran in, I’fael couldn’t keep the smile off of his face. They were like young children, easily excited, adorable, innocent…The man had a secret longing for children, though the fact that he was unable to settle down made raising a family difficult. He was getting older too, to the point where he wouldn’t be able to sire children. Well, if you’d ever be able to stay in one woman’s furs, perhaps you would have some, was Morendoth’s reply, always listening in to his rider to make some sort of smart remark. I’fael chose not to answer, but the words brought him back to the lesson and he focused on Tr’esn as the boy began examining the leather.

I’fael nodded in approval as Tr’esn correctly identified one of the bad pieces of leather and smiled reassuringly once he admitted that he couldn’t tell which was the other damaged one. Having identified one correctly was a good sign that the boy wasn’t stupid. In his class, there had been a few that had thought all three pieces of leather were perfectly workable with no flaws whatsoever. Though the weyrlingmaster had corrected them then, one or two had never bothered to remember that when fixing their straps. They hadn’t lasted long out of weyrlinghood.

“Well done. I’m assuming this is your first time working with leather? Well, lets look at these two strips more closely, shall we?” The weyrlingmaster picked up the remaining two, running them lightly through his fingers before continuing on. “This one,” he held up one of the strips. “Is thinner than the other, can you feel that? If you look closely, you can see where it’s been worn at and stretched to far. When leather is stressed, this is what it looks like. Not as obvious as a crack, but just as dangerous.” He handed both strips back to Tr’esn to allow him to examine the difference for himself now that he knew what to look for.

Just then Kalina and Uminth entered. I’fael collected himself before replying. No use snapping at her now. Perhaps something had happened. At any rate, at least the girl had chosen to show up at all. “Thank you Kalina. Come and join Tr’esn and I here. I won’t be able to catch you up on everything that we’ve covered so far today so we’ll arrange an appointment later this afternoon to go over that. For now we are working on making our first pair of fighting straps. Tr’esn has been learning to recognize the different flaws in leather. Lets see if you can do the same.” Taking the leather, he handed them to Kalina and then turned back to Tr’esn to help him take his measurements.

“We won’t be making the entire set in class,” he told Tr’esn. “I’ll be helping you take the measurements and helping you start, but the majority of this work will be done outside of class. If you need help then, feel free to find me at my office, but I’m sure you’ll be fine.” Taking a measuring string, he handed it to the boy, beginning to point to him where to measure on Oquith. Once Kalina was done with the leather, he began doing the same for her, talking to both weyrlings about the general thickness of straps as well as the different types of stitching they would be using. He gave them several examples and then let them practice for themselves.

“Well, it’s time for lunch” he announced at last, after the two of them had been working for several hours. He smiled at them both as he stood, stretching stiff muscles. “You two have been doing quite well this morning. I’ll be checking your straps in a week or so to see how you’ve progressed, but I think you’ll both be fine. Your classmates however…” he coughed pointedly as he glanced around the otherwise empty room. “Well, thank you for coming, even if the others don’t deem it worthy of their time. Alright, dismissed.”

[Avu]

First time working with leather? Tr'esn nodded apologetically, pushing his hair out of his eyes where the tawny curls consistently fell, uncurling his fingers from the leather strips to let I'fael take them, and stared at the leather. Proximity was uncomfortable for him, as usually, previously, it had meant only more demands. Even more uncomfortable was the fact that there was no one else in the room to take some of the attention off of him. Tr'esn didn't like being the center of attention. Except Oquith's, obviously, but that was different...a soft nudge at his elbow made Tr'esn look down, blinking affectionately at the green, before returning his gaze to the leather strips. Thinner? Well...he blushed slightly, embarrassed. How had he not thought to check the thickness of each strip? You didn't, because you didn't know to, said Oquith, surprisingly sensible. Now you know, and now you will.

He accepted the leather back and flipped them over, rubbing the edges lightly and then, once satisfied that he knew what to look for, started to put down the strips - and promptly dropped one as the door opened and in came another Weyrling pair. Tr'esn leaned down, picking them up with his head lowered to avoid looking at the new arrival - she wasn't familiar to him. A faint smile touched the corners of his mouth, but otherwise, Tr'esn had all the appearance of one mourning the passing of a close friend, the look only emphasized by his large eyes, downcast, the lashes brushing against his cheek as he absently rubbed Oquith's head while I'fael worked with the girl on the leather strips. Oquith crooned softly, rubbing her head along his forearm.

Perhaps you can help her if she gets confused! the green suggested. I don't think so, Qui. I'm no expert. But then I'fael's attention was back on him, and instead of feeling stupid (as he had when he hadn't anything to do), a surge of something surprisingly like excitement knotted in his stomach. He nodded eagerly, taking up the measuring string and approaching Oquith. Pose for me, he said lightly, glancing at the diagrams once I'fael had left to help the other Greenweyrling, and Oquith huffed softly, pressing her muzzle into his cupped palm lightly before he straightened, folding her wings back to avoid getting them in the way as she let Tr'esn loop the string between her last two neck ridges and then tighten it. Tell me if it's too tight, he warned. It's not. A little tighter. This tickles. Don't squirm, Qui. Ooh, hurry, it tickles so much! The green's tail twitched.

"Okay! Okay..." Tr'esn loosened the string, grabbing a quill and marking down the measurement on a piece of hide. "Now, this one goes between the fourth and fifth ridges up..." Ooh, that's going to tickle too, isn't it? "Sorry..." A little tighter. "This fit?" Tr'esn wriggled two fingers between the measuring tape and Oquith's neck. That's good. He leaned over to make the measurement on the parchment. "Next..." He blinked at the diagram, tilting his head to get the curls out of his eyes as Oquith craned her neck around to see. "This one goes..." He turned back to Oquith, picking up the measuring tape again. Another mark found its way to the parchment. "Now, the next one is..."


Lunch! Oquith echoed I'fael brightly, though the exclamation was silent to all but Tr'esn as she straightened. In the last hour, the green had lost interest in the 'game', as she thought it would be much more interesting to measure Tr'esn for fighting straps than to be measured. To be measured meant standing stock-still, and then stretching each muscle carefully so Hers could figure out exactly how long each strap should be. Tr'esnmine, lunch! Come on, it's time for lunch! "Lunch for humans, not dragons," Tr'esn answered, rocking back on his heels and stretching, brushing his hair out of his eyes and grinning at Oquith. But I'm hungry, too. It doesn't matter, though. You can eat first, and then I can go eat. You're probably hungrier than I am anyway. "What makes you think that?" Tr'esn protested absently, already gathering the notes he'd made on hide and carefully rolling them after touching the ink to test its dryness. Well, you're still growing, and you didn't eat nearly as much as I did this morning.

[archenstone]

Kalina felt relieved that I'fael didn't seem too irritated at her lateness. That's close..She looked on with interested when he said they where making fighting straps. Uminth thats so cool! I get to make something for you![/i] She felt Uminth's mood brighten with hers. Good Mine...this could be a fun day! Anything that made her Mine happy. Uminth hummed in appreciation and peeked at Oquith. Are you having a good day too sister? She asked Oquith.

Meanwhile I'fael had handed Kalina leather and she was now eying it. Confidently she felt, tugged, and looked over each piece. She set a cracked on aside. Then, after tugging, stretching, and bending the other pieces she set another aside. She put what she thought was the good one separate. "I think I got it," She said. After a moment she said, "The first one has a crack where its been bent...the second one...is stretched out. It would snap under stress. The third one is fairly new and should work fine." She was pretty confident since she worked leather into her creations back home...not to mention plagued the tanner and leather workers with questions at one point. Who knew random bits of knowledge would be useful?