Few days after hatching/WeyrBowl/Lesson!

[summerrain]

TeraMine, lessons. My clutchmates will be there as well.

"In a sec," Tera told the little Wood. She had found an interesting butterfly, which was somewhat surprising in such hot weather. Then again, it was only the first of many to be seen around these parts.

TeraMine, we'll be late if we do not leave now! Picosith insisted, pulling at her Weyrling's shirt.

"Alright, alright," Tera conceded, laughing. "Just stop pulling!" Picosith motioned toward the Bowl, and Tera nodded. She darted off, Picosith close behind, bounding more than actually flying.

The pair arrived just in time to hear the first assignment. "Writing a letter...? But mama and Aunt Sanata were both there to see Picosith choose me."

How about your father? Picosith asked. If I remember right, your father is often away. He probably doesn't know that you are Mine now.

"Good idea!" Tera replied, grasping the materials necessary for letter writing. She found a nice spot near the lake, a shallow spot of water where Picosith could splash around without worrying about going out so far as to be in danger. There was also a nice cover of shade from a large tree. "Papa will want to know about Picosith." She looked over the paper and began writing.

Hi papa, and mama if you're there. Mama probably already told you, but when we came to visit Aunt Sanata at Rainbow Mists Weyr, a Hatching started! Mama and Aunt Sanata let me go watch it! There were so many pretty colored dragons! A Starlight and a Sunset, as well as two Woods, among others. When the first Wood hatched, smaller than the others, she didn't seem to like the other Candidates. Then her eyes met mine, and I knew what she was thinking! I Impressed to Picosith, and now I live at the Weyr. I'm the youngest of what are called Weyrlings, those who Impressed a Hatchling, but I don't mind. I have Picosith, and Picosith is the absolute closest friend I know I'll ever have.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

Viarth burst out into the sun and came to a sudden confused halt. He didn’t notice K’tar skidding to a stop next to him. The path had ended, but there was no food anywhere. There were other-things-with-four-feet-but-no-wings that smelled-like-food, but no actual food. Viarth walked over towards the other-things-with-four-feet-but-no-wings. He wanted to know more about them, and for that, he must get closer to them.

“Viarth, stop!” K’tar called out “You’ll spook them!” He groaned when Viarth ignored him, continuing to approach the herdbeasts. Time to stop a dragonet before he gets hurt by a panicked herdbeast, K’tar thought as he forced himself to move forward, slowly, after Viarth.

The other-things-with-four-feet-but-no-wings where all bigger than him. Much bigger than him. In fact, they were quite nearly as long as his Mine was when sleeping, and almost as tall as his Mine was standing. All that thinking about his Mine led him to an awareness; his Mine was worried, something about the other-things-with-four-feet-but-no-wings that were larger-than-Mine-if-Mine-were-a-ball.

Why are you worried Mine? Viarth asked.

Because they can do a lot of damage if they get scared, and they are always scared of dragons K’tar replied, moving steadily forwards, forcing his body to display confidence so as not to further alarm the herdbeasts.

[Kaya]

It took the remaining energy that Korith had not to collapse when he saw Viarth slow down. That meant he could slow down, not stop. Korith kept on at a slower pace so H'rarn could catch up. He didn't dare stop. He might not be able to convince himself to start moving again. He stopped... Korith announced wearily. Viarth had finally stopped running. The Blue weyrling had to go back to concentrating on walking and ignoring the walking. Impossible task. Somehow he just had to keep moving on. Faranth knew how they were going to get back to the Weyr...

...oh? ...is that so? Holt responded with some delay. The fast paced exertion had taken its toll on him too, as much as he had a - what seemed unreasonable at the time - desire to run more now. He caught up to Korith at last and together they staggered out of the jungle trees and onto the edge of a field. A field filled with herdbeasts. Herdbeasts who had nervous eyes on an oblivious Purple dragon that was headed right toward them.

Mine, they do not look friendly... Korith observed.

"You would be," Holt breathed, "if..." he broke off his sentence and gasped in more air. "If..." Another breath. Not good...

[Shoki]

D'ziel and Hocteth stayed in pace with H'rarn until they slowed down and finally stopped. Hocteth looked at the strange creatures that Viarith was so interested in but remained by D'ziel. The Moonlight soon caught the mood from D'ziel and looked up at his rider to figure out what had him perturbed. The expression was very curious, since he didn't so much seem worried but rather like he was pulling apart a problem. Hocteth didn't quite understand it, but he continued watching D'ziel's expression, curious.

"Hocteth can you step over her for a second?" D'ziel spoke the question in a much lower voice then the dragon had expected but he did so and sat down immediately, his eyes whirling with curiosity. "Thanks. I figure they have enough distractions from our purple friend."

They don't like dragons?

"When you are older you are going to be eating them, so no, they don't."

Oh. Would it be better if I thanked them for the meal before eating them when I get older?

"I'm not sure if they would understand the sentiment." D'ziel snickered a little bit, trying not to laugh. "But if you want to, I won't stop you."

I shall consider the most proper course of action. The Moonlight tried to look dignified but got distracted by the Blue and his rider. This caught D'ziel's attention as well.

"Hey, Holt are you okay?" The other boy looked a little worse for wear, even though he was the taller one by a fair bit.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’tar didn’t notice that the others had arrived. He didn’t notice anything other than the fact that Viarth was right next to the heardbeasts, all of whom were tossing their heads, their eyes rolling and clearly showing the whites.

Viarth, oblivious to everything but his curiosity, stepped right up to one of the other-things-with-four-feet-but-no-wings and extended his head, nostrils wide. Why do they smell like food, Mine? he asked.

K’tar opened his mouth to answer, only to see one of the heardbeasts, a large male, running towards Viarth, head lowered to show horns. “Viarth! Run!” he shoutedpulling his shirt off and racing forward, waving it and yelling in an attempt to drive the large heardbeast away from Viarth. The plan was only partially a success. The heardbeast did turn away from Viarth, but then the entire heard started running along the tree line, towards the head of the path where, K’tar now noticed, Holt and D’ziel were standing.

Shards… “Guys, get back into the trees!” he shouted. He knew that shouting would only scare the heardbeasts further, but they were making so much noise that he had little chance of being heard anyway, and they were coming at him, too. It was amazing how fast he could move still, knowing the alternative was to get trampled.

“Viarth!” he shouted, “Viarth where…”

Right behind you! Viarht replied.

The next instant, both of them were racing for the trees, running only because ethey hadn’t taken the time to consider that they shouldn’t have been able to do so.

[Kaya]

Heavy breathing. In and out. In and out. Air. His lungs burned. Faranth, he felt awful but what he wouldn't give to be able to have the wind in his face without his stomach tying itself in knots. Korith looked on, worried, but unsure what to do. It was a relief to them both when D'ziel and Hocteth arrived and inquired about Holt's well being.

"...think, so..." Holt managed to get out after a pause. He was doubled over, resting on his knees and still trying to get his breath. At the moment he felt like it would take ages to feel normal again.

A ruckus caught Korith's attention away from Holt as he turned to stare at the flashing hooves that were coming at them. Not good. Surely Holt couldn't go back to running. He was small, but he had to do something. Korith flared his wings and jumped up onto his back legs. He had to look big, even if he wasn't so much. Maybe Hocteth could help- Look big!

[Shoki]

"I don't know about that." D'ziel looked at Holt with a worried gaze, but his eyes flickered over to the herdbeasts as they picked up speed. Not good, they had to be diverted. The blue dragonet was trying to get on that, looking as big as he possibly could. Hocteth was taken aback at Korith's request.

Look big? I'm not sure- Hocteth sounded both doubtful and worried, at least until D'ziel spoke up.

"Do it." The moonlight looked back at his rider and the boy he was next to, looking perplexed. "Stand next to Korith when you do it. You guys aren't the same color or pattern but you'll still compound the effect."

Hocteth still didn't seem sure but he trotted over to Korith and got up on his back legs, trying to use his wings to look big. He didn't quite get why they were doing this, but D'ziel seemed sure, so he'd have a go. D'ziel stood next to Holt, trying not to looked worried. Stampeding herd beasts could be wildly unpredictable, but it was a better option then running for the time being. His eyes roamed to K'ter and his purple, who he waved at and motioned to the dragons. The noise was getting very intense so he suspected that only hand motions would get through. Hopefully he would see what the other dragons were doing and then take the hint on what he wanted them to do.

[Ghost of Fire (Fëanáro)]

K’tar saw a blur of motion. Following it, he saw D’ziel and Holt, then the two dragonets. Realizing what they were doing, he immediately called himself several names, or which “dimglow” was probably the nicest.

Why didn’t I think of that? I should have!

Mine!

K’tar glanced over his shoulder, just in time to see Viarth stumble and fall. Whirling around, the young man started waving his arms, spinning his shirt, and yelling. The heardbeasts split down the middle, swerving to get away from this sudden noisy predator that appeared in their midst, though there were several close shaves in which one of them decided to kick at the predator as they ran by.

“Viarth, get up!” K’tar shouted, nudging the dragonet, who was still down and seemed to be in shock. “Extend your wings! Flap like you’re going to take off!”

Startled, Viarth started flapping. He’d never done it before, and the first few flaps, his wings struck the ground with every downbeat, causing the little purple to wince.

Miine it hurts

“Don’t stop! Getting trampled would hurt worse, I assure you!” Glancing over at Viarth, K’tar winced when the dragonet’s wings smacked into the ground.

“You have to reverse the stroke sooner,” he said, almost shouting so that Viarth could hear him over the noise of the heardbeasts. “With me! Up! Down! Up!” After a few rounds, Viarth worked out the rhythm and started speeding it up, so K’tar stopped calling out the beats, only to be shot a panicked look by the dragonet.

This is so insane that it’s funny, K’tar thought as he resumed shouting out “Up” and “Down” at appropriate times, still waving his shirt around and smacking it against the ground for a whip-like sound.