Wherling Lesson One

[randi]

Just after sunset seemed to be the right time. The new wherlings had, surely, enough time to adjust, but, in the event that they hadn't, it wasn't too late or too early, hopefully, for any of them. Remembering the apartments assigned, Ellanie bounced up to each door, rapping firmly and calling out in a sing-song voice, "First wherling lesson, rise and shine!" If anyone tried to ignore her, well, Chivalry would, regretfully, have to seek them out, and she definitely didn't want that to happen. "Lessons will be in front of the apartments."

Once all that was done, the woman walked out far enough to not disturb the others and sat down in the grass. Ellanie blinked as Ellanisk followed her previous path, warbling a merry tune before darting to her side, rolling over for a belly rub. Obliging, Ellanie smiled.

It had been a tragedy that their own Wherlingmaster had passed on so recently. She had felt so bad for those who had been close to him, but even more so for the poor wherlings who would have been tossed around until a stable 'master could be found. Well, she didn't really have anything going on, and, of course, she had been studying whers since before her own Impression, so why not? Having stepped up felt wonderful, though her true problem was going to be keeping Ellanisk from trying to play with every single one of the younglings that walked up. She almost regretted not asking Swithin to come with Swisk, though she wasn't sure she could've handled that sort of distraction easily.

Nevertheless, Ellanie and her wher waited for their wherlings to show up, both member of the pair excited to meet Neisk's children and their bondeds.

Attendance
Piden of Pidesk
Jermayan of Jermaysk
Rilyer of Rilyesk
Derrin of Derrisk
Meira of Meisk
Ceryl of Cerysk
Hennai of Hensk
Kalushka of Kalushsk

[Ember]

The small green wherlet attempted to run ahead of her partner, stumbling and awkward as she moved. Her legs were just too disproportionate to the rest of her. Poor Cerysk ended up rather clumsy in a very endearing way. She was the smalelst of the clutch, with long and slim proportions. Her tail swayed side to side as she moved towards the Wherlingmaster and her wher. Ceryl and her bonded had been woken up pretty much right after the sun had disappeared bellow the horizon. The girl blinked sleepily as she watched Cerysk, who had rather a lot of energy for having just woke up. Ceryl still wasn't quite used to the night schedule.

Cerysk had managed to go from the entrance of the wherhandlers' quarters (she'd fallen in the hallway between their own apartment and the exit) to the Wherlingmaster without losing her footing. This didn't last though, as she stumbled and fell in front of Ellanie and her wher. Alarmed, Ceryl hurried up her pace. The jade green wher was not injured however. She was simply dazed. Still in the position she had fallen in, Cerysk looked up and barked happily, tail thumping against the ground gently. The slightly freckled green pulled herself to her feet as her handler caught up. She moved towards her and butted her head against Ceryl's legs gently. The girl happily crouched and rubbed the head, wiping a bit of dirt off the clumsy wher's chin.

The same cheeriness wasn't shown the Wherlingmaster though. "Hello Wherlingmaster. I am Ceryl and my wher is Cerysk," she said as she stood up. It was a good thing Heir had just eaten and was asleep. He would have distracted Cerysk too much. She absolutely adored the young bronze flitter. The two quickly became playmates, though he only played when no one else was looking. In front of others he was perfectly dignified and always showing off. He was a smart little critter. He was catching on to the training quickly. If she was going to have a pet, it was not going to be rowdy and ignore her.

Cerysk looked up at her bonded and the girl felt confusion and a bit of sadness from her darling wher. Whers could not speak so Ceryl was often left trying to figure out what the wher meant. It wasn't too hard though. They had a good bond and the green was normally pretty clear. I love you and Heir both, so do not worry that I will treat one of you better or worse than the other. Satisfied with that, the green was content to wait with her bonded for the others.

[flupine]

Derrin cracked an eye open at the sound of his door being pounded on. And it most assuredly sounded as if three people were pounding upon his door. Yes, it had to at least be three burly men that were throwing themselves at his door because nothing else on Pern could be that loud. Wait. Take that back, three burly men and three huge overly muscled Whers all throwing themselves at his door. Yes, that was it, because a full grown dragon would be a bit difficult to slam into his door and three simply downright impossible.

Smiling a little at his own musings Derrin was fully ready to dismiss the sound as a part of his dream and roll over for more sleep when he heard the voice. That sweet little voice blaring out Wherling lesson announcement. Oh how lovely. Rolling over in the opposite direction to look at Derrisk he smiled softly again before jerking upwards. The spot where Derrisk should lay was empty. Nothing, there was defnitely no small blue Wher over there. Panicked that he might have lost Derrisk yet again, Derrin could only groan aas the various possibilities of Derrisk actions filtered through his mind. Was it going to be like this everyday for the rest of his life? Everyday he would walk in fear of losing Derrisk and what would happen if he did. Already he was sore and aching, which was why he was still asleep when the Wherlingmaster knocked. He spent the whole night before chasing after Derrisk, well into the morning hours before returning home to find that Derrisk had already returned and was already asleep.

Just as the panic really began to seep in Derrin felt foreign movement by his feet. Experimentally, Derrin wriggled his toes around and felt a lumpy something at the end of his cot. Curious and only hoping that it was Derrisk, Derrin waited a moment to see if the lump would reveal itself. Suddenly Derrin felt a warm wet sensation as Derrisk very gently licked the bottom of Derrin's foot. It was enough to make Derrin go "awww." Reaching down to pick up the wriggling blue ball that was Derrisk, Derrin took a rare moment to cuddle Derrisk. Since he had Impressed, moments such as this had not happened. Well perhaps once, Derrisk had been 'nice' which made Derrin appreciate Derrisk's mood all the more. Finally setting Derrisk down, Derrin began to dress quickly. He should probably get Derrisk to the Lesson so everyone could see that Derrisk really could be nice before his mood changed.

Opening the door, he held it open for Derrisk calling to him. "Come on Derrisk, it's time for lessons." So what if he forgot to eat? He needed to show everyone the nice Derrisk. All but loping out to the front of the Apartment, Derrin shuddered to an immediate stop just inside the doorway, looking for Derrisk. Luckily the little blue had kept up quite well and was only a step behind. "Ready Derrisk?" The blue wherlet made a rough growling sound almost like a coughing croon. Derrin took it for agreement. "Hello Wherlingmaster!" Derrin greeted eagerly, trying to hurry Derrisk over, stumbling just a tad he quickly caught himself and greeted the other girl that had also made it to the lesson. "Hi. I'm Derrin. I'm so excited for the lessons, there's so much to learn, I'm sure Derrisk is excited too, he was pretty excited when we woke up. Thanks for knocking on the door, I slept in tonight, so thanks. And how are you are your wherlet doing?" All this was primarily spoken on only one breathe and he finished the lest sentence turning towards the Wherlinggirl.

Everything was fine in Derrin's mind, it was all going tremendously well, Derrisk had not behaved this well since....well at all. Even when he hatched, he had been a terror. But not today. But then again neither had Derrin looked down at Derrisk. The little blue had stopped following Derirn as he approached the Wherlingmaster and now that Derrin and insinuated himself into the group Derrisk could nothelp but come over and mark his territory: Derrin. Stiff and with brightly whirling eyes, Derrin approached warily, eyeing the smaller green Wherlet. Headbutting Derrin's leg to make him look down, Derrisk stomped his way to the front of Derrin. And Derrin could only freeze at seeing the stiffness of Derrisk. Oh no. Not again, Derrin's poor little heart couldn't take anymore of this.

[weaving]

Jermayan was having difficulty adjusting to sleeping during the day and waking at night. His sleep had been fitful again and when he woke to the announcement signaling the beginning of the first wherling lesson, he looked and felt far from rested. Looking around blearily, he quickly located a pair of discarded pants and a shirt, throwing them on with little care to their wrinkled state. More than a few times he stumbled over his own two feet, causing Jermaysk to rumble in amusement.

A quick swipe at his hair with his hadn revealed all sorts of knots that he’d rather not deal with at the moment. With a disgruntled sigh, Jermayan pulled it back into a runner’s tail, hoping that most of the others would be feeling much the same and therefore would be too tired to notice his disheveled state.

Well, he had no time to waste on such things. With quick strides, Jermayan exited his room, calling for Jermaysk to follow. The brown kept close to Jermayan’s side, taking in everything and everyone as they made their way to the door that led outside of the apartments. As they left the building, Jermaysk moved forward, toward the group of wherlings that were already there. The brown barked a happy greeting to Cerysk and Ellanisk, but ignored his blue brother completely.

“Hello Wherlingmaster. I’m Jermayan and that is Jermaysk.” With a wave of his hand, Jermayan indicated the brown wher to Ellanie, who had joined Cerysk. The brown certainly wasn’t afraid of meeting others, though he seemed to have a deep sense of righteousness, and practically despised his brother for Derrisk’s behavior at the hatching.

Introductions completed, Jermayan took his place near Ceryl and Derrin, Jermaysk coming to stand by him. The wher nudged him away from Derrisk, who seemed to be showing signs of aggression. Jermaysk kept a wary eye on the blue, not trusting any movement that he might make. This would certainly make lessons interesting.

[randi]

The first was coming, noted Ellanie with a smile. The sight of the small green wher held her attention for a moment, recalling a similar image from her own past. Ellanisk was not quite as stocky, more lithe than the other green, yet they held their structural similarities. The dark color of her hide was quite beautiful, though Ellanie did hold her tongue from confiding that information. While she had little doubt that it would be a problem, being unable to compliment each pair would be quite embarrassing.

As the small green bounced forward, Ellanisk shifted slightly, though Ellanie held a firm mind that, if she must go greet the little one, an idea of which there was very little doubt, that she must be gentle, as she was with Swisk. The green snorted, nuzzling at the woman's hair. When the small green tripped, Ellanie had started to move to stand, but refrained when the bonded sped up and Ellanisk moved to the spot, nosing at the smaller green both in greeting and also to assure that she was fine. The wher warbled merrily, stepping back as Ceryl neared before sweeping back to her bonded.

The introduction was met by a sweep of the arm, "Please, take a seat," she said in a gentle voice. "It's a pleasure to meet the both of you."

Her blue eyes were drawn again as Ellanisk turned her head to watch the sight of the blue wherlet rumbling behind his bonded. Derrin and Derrisk, if she wasn't mistaken, which his talk to the girl seemed to confirm. "Hello!" She greeted him, though her eyes were mostly focused on the baby wher. He had been quite a handful at the Hatching, hadn't he? Or so she'd heard, having not been there herself. The wher seemed stiff, agitated, which brought a brief frown.

Ellanisk's head tilted slightly at the notice, though she kept her distance. She liked his bonded well enough, and would have pounced him for a nice nuzzling had the blue not seemed irritable. However, not one to cause trouble, the wher was content to watch Neisk's hatchling. She would nip at him if he tried to be mean to anyone else while she was here, yesyes.

The third showed up, and seemed to be as wary of the blue as the greenpair were. The way the brown herded His away from Derrisk was, in a way cute, but also worrying. The introduction of names made her smile, though it was hard to drag her eyes away from the blue and brown. "A pleasure to meet you both as well." Had she said so to Derrin? Oh, she couldn't remember, how bothersome...

After a few moments, it seemed clear that no one else was going to be roused from their sleep, to which she sent images of the correct doors to Chivalry, and, had anyone turned, they could have seen the blue firelizard banging his foot on each door to try and rouse them one final time.

However, she was not about to drag this on, not with Derrisk and Jermaysk unhappy. Standing up, she dusted the dirt off her pants before clasping her hands behind her back to keep from any nervous habits. "Please, take a seat on the grass. I'll try not to be long."

Lesson One

"First, let me say congratulations to all of you for Impressing. My name is Ellanie, and this," she gestured briefly to Ellanisk who took the chance to press her head against her bonded's hand which made her chuckle, "is Ellanisk. I'd prefer being called by my name. I'm still getting used to the title, I'm afraid, and I'd just prefer to be Ellanie."

She drew in a deep breath before she continued, her eyes flickering between all of her students as she spoke, "As you've probably already guessed, whers are nocturnal, and the same needs to be your time schedule as well. These first few lessons will be held in the early night to give you time to adjust, but we'll progressively push it to a more reasonable hour for us night people."

"As I've said, you'll need to adjust your sleep schedule as well to where you're sleeping during the day and being awake at night. This not only gives you more time to spend with your whers, but it's also pretty vital to keeping them safe as well. They'll want to be with you, and will try to adjust and follow you into the daylight if you don't change for them. The light, as you might've guessed from our windowless apartments, is bad for whers."

"As for general care, you'd take care of your hatchlings the same you would any of their other relatives. For feeding them, I would recommend cutting up their food to keep them from choking, and also so you can keep them from over eating. You need to bathe them pretty regularly, not only because they'll appreciate it, but because it will help them shed their hide so they can grow. Applying oil to broken patches in the hide will alleviate itching and will keep them from getting hurt once they start betweening."

She paused for a moment to go over her notes in her head, sensing Ellanisk's discomfort with holding still. Maybe it would be a wise idea to ask Swisk to keep her company during these. For a moment, Ellanie wondered if she was done, but a bright flash sent by Ellanisk made her head bob.

"This is of utter importance: Heat is bad. Whers see through heat, the hotter something is, the brighter its form. Anything exceptionally hot, having been left in a fire, fire itself, anything of the sort, needs to be kept away from your wher. Too much brightness hurts their eyes, which is bad."

A quick mental checkup led her to believe she was done, though she paused for a moment. "Also, please be patient with me. I've said this already, but I'm still getting used to this, and it'll take me a little while to settle in. Before we depart, are there any questions?"

[Avu]

“First wherling lesson, rise and shine! Lessons will be in front of the apartments.”

Meira glanced over at Meisk, who had just begun to stir into wakefulness, and smiled slightly. The poor thing hadn’t had much time to socialize with his clutcmates and still looked awkward with his sutures and splint. “Ready, dear?” she asked softly, stroking the pale blue hide to wake Meisk. He chirped wistfully, questioning. “Wherling lessons…you remember? The Wherlingmaster—I assume it was her—just called.” The wher sighed and obediently rolled his chubby body out of the sprawled position, rocking on his feet unsteadily for a moment. She leaned down, automatically checking his wing, touching it with the back of her hand, and then running her fingers experimentally along the numerous cuts. All good. She kissed the top of the wher’s head, eliciting a pleased croon, and pushed the door open, letting Meisk trot out albeit rather unsteadily.

They reached the gathering of whers and people without incident, although Meisk had stumbled a few times and once had nearly banged his wing on the wall. All right, darling? Look, I swear…no wher will hurt you, all right? Be brave for me, dear, Meira warned him before she wound her way through the whers, Meisk pressed tightly against her side, his eyes shooting from wher to wher uncertainly, towards the Wherlingmaster. As he caught sight of Derrisk, Meisk visibly started, uttering a sharp squeal of surprise. Meira put one reassuring hand on the blue wher’s head, sending a soothing emotion, along with nonsensical words of comfort, through their mental link.

She bowed politely to the Wherlingmaster, introducing herself in a low, rather apologetic voice: “Meira, with Meisk. Apologies for our lateness?” They were undoubtedly slightly late—not by much, but still a bit. Meisk shrank against her, trying to hide himself from any scrutiny, his useless wing flopping at his side. Shh…it’ll be okay, Meira soothed quickly, her hand still caressing the wher’s head and neck. The reply was a reluctant whimper.

Meira guided the blue wher to an open spot, away from the others but still within hearing range, on the grass and sat down, Meisk nearly falling into her lap in his panic to curl up there, a soft sigh of anxiety rising from his throat as Meira stroked him soothingly, her pale eyes fixed on the Wherlingmaster as she spoke. All seemed fairly basic so far, things that anyone might pick up if they cared to ask after it…adjustment of schedule, cutting up food, bathe and oil, stay away from too much light or heat. All good. Questions? She had a question. Of sorts.

Raising her arm into the air—Meisk chirped anxiously and buried his face into her robes—Meira raised her voice slightly, aware that in her position it would be hard for her voice to carry very far. “I’m thinking about taking dragonhealing courses…are they the same for whers? The anatomy, and what they can take and what they can’t, and things like that?”

[ladybug]

Rilyer knew there was a lesson. He woke up in time. He was dressed and ready to go. Rilysk was the problem. The brown was curled up on his stone bed, not asleep, but not getting up, either. Rilyer was having a difficult time being firm with the wher, having Impressed so recently. It was just hard to be mad at Rilysk, even though he was being so frustrating!

"Please, Rilysk! I don't want to get in trouble!" Rilyer begged, tugging lightly at the brown's tail to get his attention. Rilysk opened one eye, yawned, and closed it again without saying anything. The boy scowled, crossing his arms and shaking his head. "Please?" he repeated, pathetically.

He may have never been able to rouse Rilysk, but then the blue fire lizard returned, banging on the door. Rilysk, curious, raised his head, and Rilyer took the opportunity to physically push the brown to his feet and towards the door. "Come on! Go, go!"

Rilysk grunted, but relented, and the pair finally made it to the lesson about halfway through the lecture. Rilyer, blushing, took a seat and tried to appear inconspicuous. He was rather concerned about this. Soon enough, he wouldn't be able to push Rilysk around, and then what? He was so preoccupied he had a hard time paying attention to anything Ellanie said. This seemed like a rather ominous beginning to lessons for Rilyer!

[Ember]

The green wherlet looked at the older wher who had come to look over her when she fell. As the wherlingmaster told Ceryl to sit, the girl did so, the green laying on her lap for a moment. When others started to come she promptly got up again, wanting to see her clutchmates again.

Cerysk, having missed the more sinister events at the hatching, nearly went to greet Derrisk and Derrin cheerfully but the sudden apprehension in Ceryl's mind stopped her. She looked upwards and barked curiously and the girl laid a hand on the green's head. So instead of going over and potentially nuzzling her blue brother she settled for another happy bark, tail whipping behind her. Ceryl was not as kindly.

"Me and Cerysk are fine." No thank you, no note of anything besides a slight lingering anger for both. His wherlet was the problem, but nothing could change the fact that Derrisk had chosen him and the man would have to be responsible for whatever was done by the violent blue. She would have said something mean but the greeting of the brown made her turn to look at the wherpair. She smiled ever so slightly and watched as Cerysk gently nuzzled her brother in greeting. There were no bad vibes from Ceryl warning her not to, after all.

It looked like it would only be the three of them at the first, very important lesson. She listened politely, occasionally glancing at the wherlet who was laying in her lap once again. She learned a fair bit about her beloved green that she hadn't known earlier. The information she received would be very helpful. They were rather similar to dragons, with the exception of no mind voice and they were sensitive to light. The lesson ended with Ellanie asking if there were any question. Ceryl glanced in surprise to Meira. She hadn't noticed any newcomers. The girl had a good question though.

[Ruby]

Piden was usually pretty good about adjusting to new schedules, especially since he'd lived on a farm for most of his life. Needed to be up two hours before dawn to bring in a crop? Piden was up. An hour after dark? He was up. But he was really only good at doing it for a day or so, not permanently. What made it worse was that Pidesk was so easygoing, the Bronze didn't insist on his Handler being up at any particular time, or asleep at others. So the noctournal schedule had been fine for a few days, and now it was not working any more. And of course, that meant it was time for lessons to start- right when Piden's body was trying to return to a normal sleep schedule, and his mind was fighting against it.

It took the firelizard's door beating to wake Piden. Shards, that thing was insistent though! Pidesk, of course, was sitting at the foot of Piden's bed, totally awake and alert, his head cocked to one side. On seeing his charge so on top of things, Piden sat up quickly, swearing when he realized how late he was. "Why didn't you wake me, beast?" he asked Pidesk, his tone turning affectionate on 'beast'. Pidesk just darted forward and nipped his Handler on the nose, clearly eager to get to lessons.

No time to change, but it didn't matter- Piden had fallen asleep fully clothed, drooling a bit on a letter he'd been trying to compose to his family. How, exactly, did you tell your mom that you ran away to the Weyr, leaving a pregnant girl in your wake, and Impressed a Bronze... Wher? Would they even know what a Wher was? Well, it didn't matter now, the letter was smudged beyond recognition. Oh yeah, and the little matter of being late to their first Wherling lesson. Late. Fabulous.

Piden followed Pidesk to the field where they were to meet, cringing when he saw almost the whole hatchling group there before him. Luckily, though, the Wherlingmaster seemed to have barely started- and Piden did not seem to have been noticed, although it was possible. He hunkered down in the grass a little behind Ceryl, since Pidesk clearly wanted to say hello to Cerysk. That would have to wait until after the lesson, though- They'd already been so rude as to interrupt the lesson, Piden wasn't going to talk through it too.