Weyrling lesson 3

[Tashe]

As was the now normal routine, F'rah had woken the Weyrlings up at dawn, though little did the young adults know he wasn't about to lead them to the Lesson room. Brown luke warm eyes danced slightly as he watched the Weyrlings gather before him, some eagerly and others not so, stood in silence waiting for him to speak. The Weyrlingmaster had to address a few things before they could start the lesson, most of it had to do with his assistant who was helping him with the lessons.

"Morning all, I hope you slept well because today we'll be working hard and outdoors. But first to a subject that apparently needs to be addressed." Waiting until most of the Weyrlings had settled down their shifting and responses to his comment, F'rah then began to speak again. "I have heard that you all and my Assistant, Miss Meri, have not gotten along since the first day you met her. I'm sorry about that... but I can do little more than talk to Miss Meri about it. She has her own style as do I, she believes in strictness, I believe in kindness. All I ask is that you at least try and get along with the woman as best as you can, and if she is acting way out of line tell me. I will sit in some of her classes if I have to."

Sighing slightly before clapping his hands together and pivoting on his right heel, the Weyrlingmaster placed his arms across his chest as he thought. "Alright kids. Follow me and make sure to stay close, don't want to lose anyone on the way to the river." With a small wave of his wrist to Styth and a loud click of his tongue, the man began walking to the exit of the barracks. For some reason, he felt that today was going to be interesting...

----

/Up up up young ones. Its time for lessons! Weyrlingmaster F'rah is teaching today, and you all will get to participate in the lessons./ Spreading his dark chocolate wings as he sent a sting of thought to the Weyrling dragons, Styth let a massive yawn escape his jaws. It was starting to look as if it was going to be a sunny, cloud free day, although the blindfolds that his Mine had packed in his saddlebags were going to blot out the bright rays as the Weyrlings put them on.

Letting his mind wonder over to the Wherbarracks and the Weyrling pair who slept there, the brown spoke to the photophobic blue that lie sound asleep. /Wake Adith. You and your Mine are needed at the Weyrling lessons. They Begin./ It had been the Weyrlingmaster's choice to let the two sleep in the Wher barracks, it was one less problem he had to deal with. But nevertheless Uu'n and Aidth still had to attend the lessons.

Shaking his hide and then settling his wings along the ridge of his back, Styth jumped from his platform to the ground before lumbering over to the river where F'rah planned to start the lessons.

This lesson will cover:

Dragonrider Bond
Swimming lessons
Firestone pickup from Dragonback


Attendance sheet:

Goldriders:
Paryal of Gold Aezanth

Bronzeriders
W'liam of Bronze Rinth
T'ren of Bronze Kasraith

Brownriders
Z'hin of Brown Jessereth
V'nus of Brown Vemorath

Blueriders
U'un of Blue Adith
A'en of Blue Ayisseth
E'nor of Blue Clestioth

Greenriders
N'vis of Green Reenith
P'tol of Green Llath
Alene of Green Liamorth
Q'ell of Green
Kalierre of Green Phremath
Ciara of Green Toryth

(Just so's you know I'm copying Paryal's Good idea on Attendance and stuff... ;3)

[neeuqtar]

For once, Uu'n was the first one awake. Of course, it wasn't surprising, given that he had been awake for hours now--what was the early morning for everyone else was his afternoon, and midday was time to sleep! He and Adith tended to dawdle around the Weyrbowl in the morning, one of Adith's tasteful blindfolds (which looked more like padded leather goggles now) carefully strapped on. It made the blue dragon look a little silly, but as long as it allowed the duo to travel by day, Uu'n would survive it as he had to. Perched in a tree growing from the base of the Weyrbowl, along the cliff, with Adith just to the side, on a rough ledge, the weyrling listened to the echoes of F'rah's speech. Something about Meri.

Whatever it was, Uu'n didn't want to be held accountable, so he didn't head over until Adith informed him that Styth had called. Uu'n leapt out of the tree, and the duo sauntered over to the Weyrlingmaster, Adith walking much better now, nose to the ground and paying close attention to what Uu'n saw so that he wouldn't fall over. As had become his wont, Uu'n had perused the Weyrlingmaster's and Weyrlingsecond's offices earlier that day and had a good idea about what was going to go down during this lesson. In preparation for water, he had eaten earlier than usual, about an hour ago, preferring not to find knots in his gut while he exercised.

He'd never truly learned how to swim, though there was water in some of the mines, but had tried it out in the Weyrlake a couple times, finding that he would much rather remain out of the water, thank you muchly. Adith was of much the same mind, and neither were very excited about that part of the lesson, though the dragon-bond thing seemed interesting. They were well practiced, due to Adith's light-blindness, but it would be interesting to see how terribly others did. That bonze on sticks would probably fall over. Uu'n smirked a little at the thought, before greeting F'rah with a nod. Adith snuffed at the ground, sending up a puff of dust before sneezing.

Watch it! I do not want to clean out your nostrils again, you! Adith laughed mentally, a chiming sound that filled Uu'n with pride and made him want to laugh aloud. Everything smells so fun, Mine! Little bugs and rocks and roots and things! Uu'n scritched the dragon's head next to the fleece-covered leather bands, which he knew had a tendency to itch a little. At least now the fleece had been used enough to soak up a bit of oil, and the natural oils on the wool had warmed and mixed, making the final pad much less scratchy and far more comfortable. Bugs and sticks regardless, keep that dust out of your nose. It'll only give you a cough and then you'll be hacking up brown slime again. That had been an interesting night, for sure, after Adith had accidentally snorted an anthill while chasing a scent-trail. Plus the ants had stung and made his nose all poofy. Besides looking ridiculous, it had hurt, and the mucus filled with dirt and bugs had been a pain to clean up. Uu'n never wanted to deal with that again!

[paryal]

After the chaos of the last lesson, P'tol wasn't sure how much he even wanted to attend this one. Who knew who would be the next target of Meri's malicious teasing? It could easily be himself, and he knew that he was a deserving one. A feminine boy, quiet and obviously scared of many different things, with a dragon to match. I did not like her mine. She was mean! Despite being three months old now, Llath continued to have a degree of dependence to P'tol that was almost annoying at times. As much as he loved the dragon, there were times when he had to be alone, and that was simply not possible as long as Llath was awake. Oftentimes, his leaving the room whle she slept would wake her, starting a fresh bout of piteously creeling from the green dragon. He also strongly suspected that Naima was close to raising. Her color looked slightly more shiny than normal. Then again, Paryal hadn't been able to tell that Fairamay had been proddy, had she? Maybe he should ask her anyway. The prospect of a Flight terrified him even more than Assistant Weyrlingmaster Meri.

Much to P'tol's relief, Meri was not teaching them today. F'rah was a warm and welcome face in comparison. But why weren't they in the classrooms? It was odd to just gather outside the rooms like this. But ah, there, F'rah had said it. They would be heading outside today. What could they possibly be doing in the cold? I do not like the cold. Let's stay inside and be warm. That settled it. If Llath wanted to be warm than he, P'tol, was going to have to brave the cold. Any reluctance he held would be easily picked up by the green, who would in turn translate that into a command that she didn't have to move at all, sitting there stubbornly. I will make sure you are warm. Let's keep moving. Their bond could use working on anyway. How could he control a dragon that wouldn't listen? F'rah could probably explain that to him. Glancing at Paryal, who was yawning discreetly and shifting her eyes back and forth as if looking for someone, P'tol shook his head. What had she gotten into now? Evidently this need to be alone was over with, for Paryal did look like she was wanting company.

I do not think he is here yet mine. You are friends again?
Yes, I think so. Aezanth was pleased that her human had managed to reconcile differences and at least partially heal the gap between her and the brownrider. She wasn't fun when she was upset, not at all! Lifting her little head proudly, Aezanth trotted forward, actively shoving the other dragons out of the way so she could be in front, with Paryal trailing behind, an amused grin plastered on her face. "I believe the Queen of all Pern wants to get her way, sorry." It was too funny to be angry, wasn't it?

I doubt we even need this lesson. The last one was useless, even if the mean woman is no longer here to bother Phremath's. I hope she never comes back again.
I doubt that wish can come true love, but at least she's not teaching this lesson.

[thialyn]

Saying that Meri was foul tempered would be putting it lightly in T'ren's mind. He entered the Lesson, followed closely by Kasraith, on a pair of freshly carved "legs." He'd tried to design a pair that would last longer, but until Kas was full grown, he would just continue to get bigger and a new pair would be needed at every step. Making them out of metal--T'ren's preference--would be much too costly to the Weyr for one dragon. That was his opinion at least. So they were made of wood and leather until someone came up with a more plausible idea, an occurence T'ren hoped for desperately. He hated seeing his bronze struggle to get up in the morning simply because he lacked front legs.

Not that this stopped the dragonet in any way whatsoever. Oh no. Today he seemed in pleasant spirits, eyes whirling green, as if he enjoyed the Lessons and lectures. And he brightened even further when he saw a certain gold Hatchling. Good morning, Aezanth, he said cheerily, nodding her way. He looked up at T'ren. May we sit with them, 'Mine? Please? he asked, eyes taking on a pleading whirl. It couldn't hurt could it?

"'Morning Paryal," he called out to the goldrider as the group began heading outside and he tried to catch up, followed by a very happy Kasraith. "Kas says hi, by the way," he continued with a grin.

~~~~~~~

Alene, being used to waking up in the wee hours of the morning, was unusually out of it this morning. First Lia had a bad dream during the night and needed comforting and reassuring that trundlebegs did not grow the size of queen dragons. Then the fact that she could not get back to sleep quick enough to actually sleep well....many small things adding up to make a very....odd Alene. As if she wasn't odd already.

In fact, she was walking out into the cold in an outfit fit for a spring workout: light but full-length pants, and cotton shirt--blessedly long-sleeved--and a vest. Not the thing to go through the cold months in. But Alene couldn't feel the cold. Not even Liamorth's cojolling could get her to change. Even when the green threatened to push her out of the bed in the middle of the night and refuse to give her the blanket Alene went unphased. And thus she walked beside her slightly fuming dragon, following the crowd of Werylings with her characteristic half grin.

You could have at least worn boots.

[evendar]

Reenith's head picked up at the prospect of the river. She and her rider along with one or two of the dragonhealers had spent quite some time at the waters edge, building up the tiny green's strength. While her diet hadn't filled her out as much as the healers would have liked, the constant swimming had built up her muscles. She would never be a strong flier, but it was the hope of them all that she would be able to fly one day.

N'vis was so proud of his little green, and he had noticed little in the way of trauma since the incident during the Flight. He'd told no one about it, and it seemed that P'tol was willing to keep the secret as well. Which was good. He didn't want that kind of tale spreading around.

Reenith was determined to walk the distance to the waters edge, and she only needed on short break to make it all the way.

"Oh Reeny that's so great. You're getting so strong." N'vis crooned, and was glad she was getting so strong since she was now to large for the average boy to carry.

[Requiem]

Z'hin dragged Kali bodily along, Phremath rushing forward as Jessereth lagged behind. The eldest of the weyrlings frowned and tried to escape from her captor, but the brownrider was having none of it. "Look, if it's Meri this time, you can just turn and walk off when you see her. You don't want to be late for F'rah, right?" The dragonhealer glared at him. Then, with a little sniff, she finally yanked her wrist free and followed the younger man docilely. It wasn't as if she could get Phremath to turn back now, anyway. It's Styth's, the little green trilled. She was still at just ten feet in length, and seemed still smaller due to the fact that her tail was long in proportion to her dainty frame and the wings were pathetically small, fluttering on her back in her excitement.

Jessereth had come up near her, dwarfing the smaller creature as he was more than a man's length longer with the extensive musculature comparative to a herdbeast, his wingspan a good twenty-six feet from wingtip to wingtip. Those same wings were now held lightly into his frame. Not the largest brown for his age, just as with his rider, Jessereth gave off the impression of being bigger than he was due to his sheer physical presence; the power in his body was more than obvious, and most of the gracelessness of a hatchling had faded into the not so distant past. He was something of a closed-off creature; most of his clutchmates would claim he was cold. But they must secretly admire the perfect brown who didn't bear any of the defects of this strange clutch. He could even be somewhat fun when his dry humor was drawn out - if one liked dry humor, that was.

Kalierre eyed the two hatchlings critically. They were both coming along well. The fact that Phremath could trot about like that, her stunted wings pulling at the air without even intending to move them, indicated just how much good the exercises had been doing for her. Of course, it was actually something of a disappointment, for now it was pretty certain that those wings would never grow long enough in proportion to Phremath's body to get the necessary lift for her to get off the ground. Kali was pretty sure they could support her in a glide once she was in the air - but that was all it would be, and there had to be a way to get her up there. As usual, she masked these thoughts from her bonded.

Immediately spotting Paryal and Aezanth - the gold was one of the few Jessereth would tolerate, along with Phremath, who he had become used to after months of her annoyances - the brown moved sedately forward. Phremath, however, was more interested in the other dragons who were battling their own defects. Good morning Llath. Adith. Reenith. She even managed to tone down her natural exuberance, so as not to frighten the more flighty of the dragons. Kalierre and Z'hin exchanged an amused glance. It seemed their dragons had chosen their associations for them.

The brownweyrling walked up, leaning companionably upon his stolid Jessereth, even as he eyed T'ren and Kasraith for a moment. Kasraith would have been such a lovely bronze. Still was, mostly, but those legs were certainly a liability, and, despite his larger size, he managed to look a bit spindly next to Jessereth's well-muscled bulk. "Always with the dawn wakings," Z'hin offered, in a friendly tone. "You'd think they'd have enough imagination to mix it up a little." Glancing at Paryal, he gifted her with a special smile reserved only for her. "Though it's certainly nice to be out in the open air again." He remembered the last time he'd been outside with Paryal and Aezanth...and squashed the thought before the blood could color his cheeks.

Kasraith. Aezanth. Jessereth had actually bothered to greet them. Then, even more surprising, he turned his gaze on the gold and added drolly, There will be no eating of clutchmates today, sister.

[lokath]

A'en awoke suddenly, a cold nose pressed into the small of his back. Ayisseth! Get off! Mine! You have to get up! No I don't... I'm not moving. Ayisseth snorted, and pressed his nose into A'en's back again. Fine, miss the lesson for all I care. Agh! Ayisseth, that's cold! Wait... the Weyrling lesson? Oh no... A'en leaped out of bed and began dressing in a whirlwind. Mine, you still haven't gotten used to getting up this early? No... Not really. A'en pulled on a pair of old sandals and rushed out the door, Ayisseth lumbering behind him, easily keeping up.

A'en relaxed as he realized that the group hadn't left yet, and that he was just in time. However, he shuddered at realizing what they were probably going to be doing. The River? That would most likely mean swimming, as the dragons still needed to learn that. Ayisseth looked up at A'en inquisitively, but said nothing. A'en sighed, and began following F'rah and the rest of the Weyrlings as they left. He still knew little about the other Weyrlings, despite it having been more than a few months of lessons, so he didn't gravitate to any of the groups he knew would be forming, but stood and walked by himself with Ayisseth.

[Tashe]

It took only a minute or so to reach the rivers edge, and as the gaggle of quacking students quickly trailed into a line behind him, F'rah sighed before spinning around to face the class. Happy to see that more of the Weyrlings had staggered their way over to him, the Weyrlingmaster smiled before lifting a hand and calling for silence. "Alright my eager students, today we will be covering swimming lessons, strengthening Dragon Rider bonds and Firestone pick up from dragon back! But we shall take each section one at a time, so first up is a trust exorcise." Pausing to wave a hand at Styth, F'rah then continued to speak. "I will demonstrate with Styth what you all will be doing. Please watch and listen carefully, because I expect to only show you once."

Trapezing his way over to the visible obstacle course he had set up, the Weyrlingmaster patted his large Brown's flank lovingly before fishing around in one of the saddle bags. Happily drawing out a blind fold and swiftly securing it around his head, F'rah faced in the direction he thought the class was in. "When its your turn to wonder around the course, the Human of your pair will be blindfolded. With the exception of Mr. Uu'n... But we'll come to that when we do." Pausing to readjust his blindfold, F'rah cleared his throat before continuing. "The object of this exorcise is to see through the eyes of your partner, which is also known as sharing your vision. I do not expect all of you to succeed in connecting perfectly, so do not feel discouraged if its fuzzy or discolored."

Turning to Styth and nodding before letting out a long sigh, the honey haired man suddenly pivoted before stepping quickly over to the beginning of the course. "If you connect with your partner successfully, you might feel a bit disoriented before your mind adjusts to the different height and angle of vision that a dragon has. The more you practice the better you get at handling the first effects... As soon as you get to the starting line, enter your dragon's mind as you would when speaking to him or her. Then -it helps to breath deeply- concentrate on the eyes of your dragon, they will feel you seeking access and their minds will automatically grant you access." Grinning as he once again readjusted the blind fold he had on, F'rah looked to Styth before stepping over the first obstacle. The Weyrlingmaster made the course look like there was nothing there with his fluid and precise movements around and over his obstacles. Jumping happily over the fallen log that announced the end of the maze, F'rah made his way back over to the class without removing his blackout fold.

"Okay, lets see who I want to go first.... lets have T'ren and Kasraith please, and then a pair after them and so on and so forth... OH! And any plans anyone has to memorize the course.... don't bother. I will be making changes for each pair, also no helping at all! Styth will be monitoring your dragon's minds just encase y'all feel the need to try and help your classmates." Grinning as he took off his blind fold, the Weyrlingmaster held it out for the bronze pair to take. "Mr. Uu'n, when you go up to try the course, it will be Adith who will participate. You will be giving him your sight."

---
---

Moving at his Mine's signal, Styth happily cooed at the praise that F'rah gave him as he rooted through the saddle pack. Shaking his wings slightly as he translated everything F'rah said to his young dragons, the large Brown then shifted his attention to sight sharing. Feeling his Mine's presence in his mind, Styth blinked before speaking to F'rah as their sight merged.

/F'rahmine, I think they will have fun today. At least the young dragons will./

Happily switching his eyes back and forth depending on what his Mine needing to go around or clear, the dark chocolate Dragon lead the Weyrlingmaster through the course like a dance. As soon as F'rah broke their vision contact, Styth then turned to the dragon weyrlings.

/When your Mine and you have connected, lead them with your sight and not with your words. And most importantly have fun, you all deserve a small break for putting up with the mean assistant Weyrlingmaster./

[neeuqtar]

Hello, sister Phremath! Adith said cheerfully, snuffling at the river's edge before dipping his nose into the water. Uu'n nodded greeting to Z'hin, who was really the only weyrling he had any connection to in any way, and only by dint of fighting for his life alongside him. You're being unusually friendly today, Uu'n remarked, amused. Usually it was impossible to distract the dragon from His, which was an unusual feeling for Uu'n. Being... needed, and wanted. All the time. Maybe one day it would get annoying, but for now Uu'n was almost resentful that his blue was conversing with others, no matter how little.

How can I not be happy with all this wet stuff around? Uu'n hid a smile as F'rah explained what they were going to do. You hate baths, Adith. And water. This is different, the blue informed him, stepping into the muck at the edge, his violet-blue toes sinking into the black stuff. Uu'n sighed, just slightly, though his expression remained exactly the same. Adith was going to need a bath again, and after he'd just had one the day before, too.

"I suppose I'll go next," he informed the Weyrlingmaster, his voice betraying no emotion. Of course, as Uu'n's usual state was seemingly-emotionless, this was no different from normal times. But Mine... we've already tried this. It makes our heads hurt, Adith complained, scooting backwards from the river, legs stained dark from the muck of the river bottom, his underbelly wet and face halfway up his muzzle soaked. And now I'm cold. What happened to the cheerful blue, hmm? Uu'n asked, amused. You'll warm up once we start. And you know the only way we'll get better and stop having headaches is to do something a lot. Adith huffed, then lay down, head at Uu'n's feet, and starting humming almost silently, trying to reproduce a tune he had bribed Uu'n into singing by taking a bath, the tune simple but beautiful, especially in a deeper voice.

[missa]

Mine... Mine... Mine? Mine... MINE! Rinth's voice had begun as soft as he tried to wake his slumbering Mine, he hadn't wanted to yell at his, but the fact they were so late to the lesson made the bronze worry. He'd been trying to wake a sleepy His since Styth called them, thanks to the tossing and turning of the night before, His was exhausted, which required a bit more volume... Though if asked, the Bronze would admit that he had enjoyed watching His flounder for a moment.

"Rinth... You okay?" W'liam asked sleepily, rubbing at his eyes as he sat up, looking back to Willow to make sure he hadn't hurt her. If he'd disturbed her, then she'd already gone back to sleep like a good girl. Instead, W'liam's glance went to Rinth, suspicion replacing the drowsiness.
I am fine, but we are late for the lesson. Sleepy head. Amusement coloured the young Bronze's tone as he nudged His gently, before turning to lead the way. Allowing His to worry about dressing as quickly as he could.

E'nor had been waiting for his friend for ages, amused only by Clestioth's continual chatter, about what ever it was that crossed his mind. When RInth appeared, the Blue darted forward to nuzzle Rinth in greeting, crooning happily as he bombarded the Bronze with words. Rinth was one of the only dragons that kept up with this Blue, and that was probably the reason Clestioth liked him so much.
Rinth! Hello! You are awake, finally! THat is good, we are very late to the lesson, I hope we will not get in trouble, it is not entirely our fault, Kel wouldn't settle, no, he wanted Mine to tuck him in or something silly like that, you have a little cousin too don't you Rinth? She is green, yes? I think she is cute, though more independant than Kellris, Kel likes to hang around us- The Blue cut off as His nudged him to start moving and he did so trotting along side Rinth.
Oh Mine was sleepy, very sleepy, he couldn't sleep when Rukbat wasn't up, I don't know why, Mine says that happens sometimes, but I don't mind, we are late but I hope they will understand. I did try to wake Mine. Yes, we have Willow, she is pretty, and she likes cuddles every now and then, does Kel catch his own food? Willow does sometimes, she- The Bronze too, stopped talking as he caught up to the lesson, eyes whirling with distress.

We don't know what to do! We are going to be in so, so, so much trouble Mine, and it's my fault! This statement got him a flick on the nose, which had Rinth effectively shutting up.
Don't be silly, it's not your fault, if anything it's mine. Now shush you, stop getting so upset.

{Sorry about the lateness, it's almost impossible to finish a post at schooll...}

[ravenmane]

((I am really sorry about missing Lesson 2, but I'm here for this one!))

Up, Mine, Up! Up, Mine, Up! Up, Mine, Up!!!!!! Toryth's endless chant echoed in Ciara's sleepy head, annoying the weyrling to no end. With great difficulty, the Greenrider attemped to block Toryth out, but the Green made past the mental wall. A glance towards Toryth explained the sad truth. The Green would not stop until her rider was up. That's right! Hurry or we will miss the lesson. Ciara leaped from her bed as she realized she had slept in. Throwing on a pair of clean clothes, the weyrling darted out to where her class was gathered, Toryth running beside her. Ciara smiled gratefully as she appeared just as Weyrlingmaster F'rah was giving instructions.

Slowing down, Ciara moved into the crowd, hoping F'rah would not notice her tardiness. Her eyes traveled over the training course, unease moving down her spine. This is going to be difficult, Troy. It's Toryth, and No, this will be fun and easy. The odd Green nudged her Chosen lovingly.

[Tashe]

Watching silently as the Weyrlings attempted the course he set up, F'rah saw to it that each pair completed it, with varying amounts of success. Congratulating those of the pairs who did exceptionally well for their first time, the Weyrlingmaster then cleared his throat to bring wondering attention back to himself. "Alright weyrlings. The next lesson is a little less fun, but even more important than this course. We will now, from today on, will be practicing picking up firestones from dragon back."

Pausing to take in the looks on his students faces, F'rah then continued on as he made his way over to the nearest tree and kicked aside the bushes that were clustered around it's base. "Your dragon halves are now big enough to support your weight... I would like three strong volunteers to help me carry these firestone bags into the meadow." Moving to the left to reveal the reason he had kicked away some of the bushes, the honey haired man impatiently motioned for any three of the Weyrlings to help him. Crouching down and lifting from his knees, F'rah picked up one of the stone filled bags before happily moving to the large open field were the obstacle course had been lain out.

Heaving the bag off of his shoulder, the man quietly turned to the weyrlings that had wondered after him. Taking a moment to rub the back of his neck, F'rah sighed slightly before taking a deep breath. "Since Styth is not as short as your Weyrling dragons... I shall be talking you through the process."

---

Stretching his large body out in a line, the large brown was perfectly content to stay out of this portion of the lesson, having hated firestone training when he himself was in lessons like this. One of the most relaxed browns in his class, Styth had always put up a small fight when his had come to firestone training. Now it was his turn to lay off to the sidelines and watch as his mentor had done before him, happily wishing all of the younger dragons luck in their attempts, the dark chocolate male yawned before settling his head onto his legs. It wasn't before long that Styth found himself drifting into a soft doze and after a few moments of thought, he let himself succumb to its gentle calling.

[Requiem]

Z'hin, having quickly grown tired of the company Jessereth chose to keep, had wandered over toward Uu'n and Adith. Jess, of course, followed, though not without the usual sense that the brownrider got whenever his hatchling was internally grumbling. Jessereth didn't mind Adith so much as he just didn't want to spend even more time with Phremath, who was ever so annoying in her constant cheeriness. "Stop being such a grouch," Z'hin muttered to the male.

Perhaps this was why, when there turn came up to run the gauntlet, things did not go so well for the brownweyrling. Oh, he had no trouble whatsoever connecting minds with Jess. The two were linked so strongly already - to the point that it was nearly detrimental - such that an emotion could not briefly touch one without the others' knowing it. Nor could a conscious thought flit through either's mind without the second of the pair becoming immediately aware. Subconscious or wordless thoughts might go unnoticed...but that was all. In fact, at this point they were both making a competition out of masking things from each other. And Jessereth's weapon of choice was misdirection.

He used that well enough in this circumstance when he turned his gaze on everything and anything but the obstacle course...or, at least, the part of the obstacle course Z'hin had to traverse. After tripping over countless things, slamming into trees, and generally making a fool of himself, the brownweyrling finally got fed up and started narrowing down where his bonded must be by the images he was getting. This, of course, resulted in a merry chase, the blindfolded man having to rely mostly on memory of Jessereth's former movements - as he couldn't see directly in front of him as the brown was fleeing - to close in on the hatchling.

Needless to say, it caused all manner of amusement. The two, reconciled after a merry bout of chase and aggravated hide and seek, stood again near the river as Phremath and Kalierre took their turn. The dragonhealer handled the gauntlet with an ease that very nearly rivaled F'rah's own. She simply strode through. It almost made the young man jealous, however he would never trade Jessereth for all the world, and, truly, how boring would it be if the brown had simply complied?

When F'rah asked for help with the bags of firestone, however, Z'hin moved to fill the gap, shouldering two of them with a naturalness that seemed almost a challenge to the Weyrlingmaster, if the brownweyrling had been at all the rebellious type. He was fun-loving and competitive, but not subversive. It just seemed silly to pick up only one bag when he could just as easily handle two. And thus the weyrlings continued on in their lesson, Jessereth swiftly growing bored again and Phremath frequently losing focus, bouncing from one to the other of her brothers and sisters with a characteristic recklessness.