Charming as ever
It is a summer morning of day 19, month 6, turn 23 of Interval 10.
Feeding Grounds, Fort Weyr
The feeding grounds are fenced off from the rest of the Weyr with a high, wooden fence and gate, providing plenty of space for the resident herdbeasts -- bovines, in particular -- to ramble about. The vast majority of the animals are for draconic consumption, but some of the more valuable varieties are penned away from those designated to be dragon food. Ovines and porcines are a bit more useful to humans than to the dragons that would happily dine on them and are kept further away from the bovines and closer to the stables as a result. There's plenty of grass to feed them, while herders and stablehands regularly add feed to the troughs along the eastern fence. The soil turns to mud as one gets closer to where the area butts up agains the lake, which doubles as a watering hold for the animals.
Obvious exits:
Bowl Stables
Edela says, "/Carcasses/, Zraith, d' you hear that?" G'dri's threat has Zraith's full attention even without Edela's reiteration, red-tinted facets reflecting his impatience but so put upon, the brown heaves a sigh and lowers his chin to the fencepost to contemplate his prey in (relative) silence. Edela quirks her mouth around her index finger while G'dri speaks, tugging at one fingernail with nibbling teeth, bobs her head to indicate some sort of understanding. The weyrling and weyrlingmaster are leaning against the fence, speaking quietly, while Khameth is yet some distance away; the young woman takes a visibly deep breath, half closing her eyes, and finally expels it at once: "Yeah. Okay." When a herdbeast lows nearby, she jumps slightly, and chuckles uncertainly with a quick look stolen toward G'dri. "Can I tell 'im t' go, yet?"
That big ol' sigh from Zraith has G'dri rubbing his hand across his mouth, eyes crinkling up at the corners to betray his smile. He remains silent, so as not to disrupt her concentration, turning his head to look out across the pen. When his gaze returns to the weyrling at her words, this time his smile is allowed to be seen, encouraging as he nods his head. "So long as you feel you are ready. I will tell you when Khameth is clear." His eyes lift again, to where a pair of deep blue wings unfurl as the elder dragon launches himself suddenly into the air. Wings beat to gain him some height and then he turns, swooping in a half-circle over the pens to get into position. his dive is sudden, picking out a single small cow who's gotten herself separated from her herd. When he comes down he lands /beside/ her, and his lightning-quick strike is not for her neck, but her leg, a single hard chomp breaking it. As she squalls in pain, he launches away again, the attack over as abruptly as it began. "/Now/ he may go," the Weyrlingmaster prompts -- even if, perhaps, his words come too late.
With the weather threatening Obsidian drilled early--no point in delaying the day's work simply because of heavy rain!--which is likely why Chielyth circles the pens now, when she'd rather be sleeping. Rather than interrupt the lesson she settles on the far side of the fence, leaving Kai a longish walk to get to Weyrlingmaster and weyrling. "Hey," he offers, slowing, and squints at the trio before leaning his arms on the fence. "He's hunting, huh."
Edela's, "Wait--!!" comes a breath too late; Zraith surges over the fence with a lunge when Khameth's half-circle turns overhead, boldness making up for speed and grace in his approach. It's a crude kill, the brown bolting past the Weyrlingmaster's dragon just as Khameth snaps the leg, striking with a clumsy leap to her neck; he's a tangle of wings and legs as he brings down the cow with a trumpet. Ed cringes, burying her head in her hands, muttering something incomprehensible but sharp, and peeks up through her fingers at G'dri: B'kaiv, too, behind him, and Ed puffs out her cheeks. "Yep," she manages to croak, to her credit, too busy with her hands to her mouth to snap off a salute.
Very much too late was that prompt, and G'dri's facepalm does little to hide the thundercloud that decides his brow is a much more fun place to rest than up in the sky where it belong. He may be slowing down a bit, but Khameth's leap still gets him clear in time -- he's not /that/ old or infirm, even with the impending storm undoubtedly making his shoulder ache. At least the thundercloud look is being directed at the young brown, and not his weyrling? "Perhaps, Edela," he begins in very, very careful tone, "we will start you a bit early on lessons in... containment." Corners of his mouth pulling down, he turns his blue eyes on her rather than watch the ah, youthful exuberance. It takes a couple moments for him to acknowledge, "Kai. No drills this morning?" Since he really isn't paying much attention to wings outside Quartz, unless he's roping them into a display to help his charges with their formations memorizing.
The greenrider winces--at what, besides 'something in the pen' isn't clear-- and turns from Khameth and Zraith to face their riders. He's got an absent-minded salute for Edela, more to get it over with than anything, and a rueful headshake for G'dri. "Shells, should be so lucky. Nah, he moved 'em up. Woke Chielyth up. Woke th' whole sharding wing up. Figured as she should eat something before she gets a nap." Now he checks back to see how the baby's doing, but only peripherally. "She's already tired. Ain't like she needs this before she gets proddy."
Zraith appears for all the world blissfully ignorant of G'dri's thunderstorm vexation, neck deep as he is in his kill. It's his lifemate who shrinks back into her cupped hands, stoic and notably Not Looking at the young brown but instead fixing brown eyes on the Weyrlingmaster overtop of her fingertips as her eyebrows knit. "Think we'd both 'preciate that, sir," she mumbles, flicking a look at Zraith and regretting it immediately from the paling of her typically dark-skinned complexion. She clues in just after Kai's salute, and, better late than never, clips off two short salutes to both riders. "... proddy," she repeats softly after Kai, staring at the man as if this were something she would never have thought of on her own.
"It will not be particularly pleasant," G'dri warns, still stern though it is clear by the way he's controlling his voice and at least /trying/ to smooth out his scowl as he looks at the young woman, that he's saving his anger solely for the draconic half of the pair. "Especially if he's inclined to fight you on it. But perhaps, given his wilfullness, the extra time to work on the techniques will serve you well as he matures." With an odd look for /Kai/ after that last bit, his brows twitching faintly. "He will be restricted from further hunts for the next two sevendays, at least. Any longer and the lesson may well be lost on him entirely," he mutters, shaking his head. Next words as well directed at the greenrider, "You have informed him, I trust?"
Chielyth continues to crouch at the edge of the pens, alternately yawning and narrowing her eyes at the herdbeasts, but she makes no move to enter. Her rider shoots her looks now and again, but he doesn't try and send her into the air either, but continues the conversation with the others. "Shells, can't you control him yet?" is for Edela, complete with a what-is-this-world-coming-to shake of his head. The, "Huh, what?" is for G'dri, and Kai shakes his head again, scowling. "Yeah. He says as long as I don't let her do nothing 'inappropriate', he don't see no reason we can't drill until day before she's supposed t' go up." There's another thunderstorm gathering, this time on the greenrider's face.
Ed takes one great big deep breath, dropping her hands to grip the fence; the motion tightens to her shoulders for Kai's comment and she allows herself only one dark glance his way, teeth firmly setting into her lower lip to bite back her reply. "Nope," she says instead, tightly, and refocuses on G'dri with one shoulder lifting and falling. "'s okay. I'm all right with that. He won't be," with a jerk of her chin and another pointed not-looking-at-Zraith shift of brown eyes, "But. Yeah. Two sevens, got it. Uh. Might need some backup, though, if it comes t' that." With the slightest of nods toward Khameth.
"/B'kaiv/," G'dri says rather sharply, for that thoughtless comment, his head being shaken warningly. The 'control /yourself/' remains silent, contained in the set of his mouth and the slight tension deepening the lines at the corners of his eyes. Just a titch protective of his weyrlings, is the bluerider. Letting out a careful breath, he straightens away from the fence, and aims a pat of his hand at one of Edela's tight shoulders. "Of course, Edela. You have our support, always," he assures, his own glance flickering to take in Zraith and then lifting further to find Khameth, searching until he finds the old blue ambling over to pay his respects to Chielyth. As he looks back towards Kai, he nods shortly. "A very typical practice during a Pass. The attitudes of wingleaders have become much more lenient, even with... the reminder we received. Such a decision on his part doesn't surprise me."
B'kaiv shoots a glance G'dri's way, but the Weyrlingmaster's knot must be good for intimidating more than just weyrlings, for he pushes off the fence to face Edela square on before muttering, "Sorry. That's one thing me and her didn't have much problem with." He blows out a breath and turns to face the pens, continues on to include Khameth and Chielyth in the circuit. "She's in a real bad mood," he warns over his shoulder, adds another headshake and amends, "So'm I. Shells. Gonna go see if she can get that nap first, maybe. She don't hardly know what time it is no more."
Edela leans her shoulder into that pat for an instant and shifts weight onto one hip pressed against the fence. A tightening of her mouth, the faintest frown while she seeks out Zraith for her first lingering look at the brown, ends in a quick shake of her head and and a smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes at B'kaiv. "'s okay. Feel better," is offered awkwardly for the phrasing of it, and there's a small wriggling of fingers across the pens to Chielyth despite the greenrider's warning. Settling deeper into her lean, Edela watches Zraith quietly; no indication she'll be leaving, not until he's done eating, at least.
A twitch of one corner of his mouth isn't even close to a smile, but the look in G'dri's eyes warms considerably for the apology when it's offered. "Noted," he says quietly, but doesn't give any outward indication of a mental warning to his blue. "Indeed," he continues, an echo of Edela's awkward sentiment. "It's off schedule, but perhaps if this storm opens up, she can catch up on some sleep during." He too doesn't look like he'll be leaving the pens any time soon, though he will give Edela some space, before time comes to escort her and Zraith back to the barracks. Just to make sure the brown actually /gets/ there.
Shells, I gotta get her to sleep and try to get something in her before drills later. She ain't in no mood for nothing, s'just flowers all the time. Should sit down tonight and try and figure out how much sleep I can get in her before she goes up, and she got to have at least one good meal.
Feeding Grounds, Fort Weyr
The feeding grounds are fenced off from the rest of the Weyr with a high, wooden fence and gate, providing plenty of space for the resident herdbeasts -- bovines, in particular -- to ramble about. The vast majority of the animals are for draconic consumption, but some of the more valuable varieties are penned away from those designated to be dragon food. Ovines and porcines are a bit more useful to humans than to the dragons that would happily dine on them and are kept further away from the bovines and closer to the stables as a result. There's plenty of grass to feed them, while herders and stablehands regularly add feed to the troughs along the eastern fence. The soil turns to mud as one gets closer to where the area butts up agains the lake, which doubles as a watering hold for the animals.
Obvious exits:
Bowl Stables
Edela says, "/Carcasses/, Zraith, d' you hear that?" G'dri's threat has Zraith's full attention even without Edela's reiteration, red-tinted facets reflecting his impatience but so put upon, the brown heaves a sigh and lowers his chin to the fencepost to contemplate his prey in (relative) silence. Edela quirks her mouth around her index finger while G'dri speaks, tugging at one fingernail with nibbling teeth, bobs her head to indicate some sort of understanding. The weyrling and weyrlingmaster are leaning against the fence, speaking quietly, while Khameth is yet some distance away; the young woman takes a visibly deep breath, half closing her eyes, and finally expels it at once: "Yeah. Okay." When a herdbeast lows nearby, she jumps slightly, and chuckles uncertainly with a quick look stolen toward G'dri. "Can I tell 'im t' go, yet?"
That big ol' sigh from Zraith has G'dri rubbing his hand across his mouth, eyes crinkling up at the corners to betray his smile. He remains silent, so as not to disrupt her concentration, turning his head to look out across the pen. When his gaze returns to the weyrling at her words, this time his smile is allowed to be seen, encouraging as he nods his head. "So long as you feel you are ready. I will tell you when Khameth is clear." His eyes lift again, to where a pair of deep blue wings unfurl as the elder dragon launches himself suddenly into the air. Wings beat to gain him some height and then he turns, swooping in a half-circle over the pens to get into position. his dive is sudden, picking out a single small cow who's gotten herself separated from her herd. When he comes down he lands /beside/ her, and his lightning-quick strike is not for her neck, but her leg, a single hard chomp breaking it. As she squalls in pain, he launches away again, the attack over as abruptly as it began. "/Now/ he may go," the Weyrlingmaster prompts -- even if, perhaps, his words come too late.
With the weather threatening Obsidian drilled early--no point in delaying the day's work simply because of heavy rain!--which is likely why Chielyth circles the pens now, when she'd rather be sleeping. Rather than interrupt the lesson she settles on the far side of the fence, leaving Kai a longish walk to get to Weyrlingmaster and weyrling. "Hey," he offers, slowing, and squints at the trio before leaning his arms on the fence. "He's hunting, huh."
Edela's, "Wait--!!" comes a breath too late; Zraith surges over the fence with a lunge when Khameth's half-circle turns overhead, boldness making up for speed and grace in his approach. It's a crude kill, the brown bolting past the Weyrlingmaster's dragon just as Khameth snaps the leg, striking with a clumsy leap to her neck; he's a tangle of wings and legs as he brings down the cow with a trumpet. Ed cringes, burying her head in her hands, muttering something incomprehensible but sharp, and peeks up through her fingers at G'dri: B'kaiv, too, behind him, and Ed puffs out her cheeks. "Yep," she manages to croak, to her credit, too busy with her hands to her mouth to snap off a salute.
Very much too late was that prompt, and G'dri's facepalm does little to hide the thundercloud that decides his brow is a much more fun place to rest than up in the sky where it belong. He may be slowing down a bit, but Khameth's leap still gets him clear in time -- he's not /that/ old or infirm, even with the impending storm undoubtedly making his shoulder ache. At least the thundercloud look is being directed at the young brown, and not his weyrling? "Perhaps, Edela," he begins in very, very careful tone, "we will start you a bit early on lessons in... containment." Corners of his mouth pulling down, he turns his blue eyes on her rather than watch the ah, youthful exuberance. It takes a couple moments for him to acknowledge, "Kai. No drills this morning?" Since he really isn't paying much attention to wings outside Quartz, unless he's roping them into a display to help his charges with their formations memorizing.
The greenrider winces--at what, besides 'something in the pen' isn't clear-- and turns from Khameth and Zraith to face their riders. He's got an absent-minded salute for Edela, more to get it over with than anything, and a rueful headshake for G'dri. "Shells, should be so lucky. Nah, he moved 'em up. Woke Chielyth up. Woke th' whole sharding wing up. Figured as she should eat something before she gets a nap." Now he checks back to see how the baby's doing, but only peripherally. "She's already tired. Ain't like she needs this before she gets proddy."
Zraith appears for all the world blissfully ignorant of G'dri's thunderstorm vexation, neck deep as he is in his kill. It's his lifemate who shrinks back into her cupped hands, stoic and notably Not Looking at the young brown but instead fixing brown eyes on the Weyrlingmaster overtop of her fingertips as her eyebrows knit. "Think we'd both 'preciate that, sir," she mumbles, flicking a look at Zraith and regretting it immediately from the paling of her typically dark-skinned complexion. She clues in just after Kai's salute, and, better late than never, clips off two short salutes to both riders. "... proddy," she repeats softly after Kai, staring at the man as if this were something she would never have thought of on her own.
"It will not be particularly pleasant," G'dri warns, still stern though it is clear by the way he's controlling his voice and at least /trying/ to smooth out his scowl as he looks at the young woman, that he's saving his anger solely for the draconic half of the pair. "Especially if he's inclined to fight you on it. But perhaps, given his wilfullness, the extra time to work on the techniques will serve you well as he matures." With an odd look for /Kai/ after that last bit, his brows twitching faintly. "He will be restricted from further hunts for the next two sevendays, at least. Any longer and the lesson may well be lost on him entirely," he mutters, shaking his head. Next words as well directed at the greenrider, "You have informed him, I trust?"
Chielyth continues to crouch at the edge of the pens, alternately yawning and narrowing her eyes at the herdbeasts, but she makes no move to enter. Her rider shoots her looks now and again, but he doesn't try and send her into the air either, but continues the conversation with the others. "Shells, can't you control him yet?" is for Edela, complete with a what-is-this-world-coming-to shake of his head. The, "Huh, what?" is for G'dri, and Kai shakes his head again, scowling. "Yeah. He says as long as I don't let her do nothing 'inappropriate', he don't see no reason we can't drill until day before she's supposed t' go up." There's another thunderstorm gathering, this time on the greenrider's face.
Ed takes one great big deep breath, dropping her hands to grip the fence; the motion tightens to her shoulders for Kai's comment and she allows herself only one dark glance his way, teeth firmly setting into her lower lip to bite back her reply. "Nope," she says instead, tightly, and refocuses on G'dri with one shoulder lifting and falling. "'s okay. I'm all right with that. He won't be," with a jerk of her chin and another pointed not-looking-at-Zraith shift of brown eyes, "But. Yeah. Two sevens, got it. Uh. Might need some backup, though, if it comes t' that." With the slightest of nods toward Khameth.
"/B'kaiv/," G'dri says rather sharply, for that thoughtless comment, his head being shaken warningly. The 'control /yourself/' remains silent, contained in the set of his mouth and the slight tension deepening the lines at the corners of his eyes. Just a titch protective of his weyrlings, is the bluerider. Letting out a careful breath, he straightens away from the fence, and aims a pat of his hand at one of Edela's tight shoulders. "Of course, Edela. You have our support, always," he assures, his own glance flickering to take in Zraith and then lifting further to find Khameth, searching until he finds the old blue ambling over to pay his respects to Chielyth. As he looks back towards Kai, he nods shortly. "A very typical practice during a Pass. The attitudes of wingleaders have become much more lenient, even with... the reminder we received. Such a decision on his part doesn't surprise me."
B'kaiv shoots a glance G'dri's way, but the Weyrlingmaster's knot must be good for intimidating more than just weyrlings, for he pushes off the fence to face Edela square on before muttering, "Sorry. That's one thing me and her didn't have much problem with." He blows out a breath and turns to face the pens, continues on to include Khameth and Chielyth in the circuit. "She's in a real bad mood," he warns over his shoulder, adds another headshake and amends, "So'm I. Shells. Gonna go see if she can get that nap first, maybe. She don't hardly know what time it is no more."
Edela leans her shoulder into that pat for an instant and shifts weight onto one hip pressed against the fence. A tightening of her mouth, the faintest frown while she seeks out Zraith for her first lingering look at the brown, ends in a quick shake of her head and and a smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes at B'kaiv. "'s okay. Feel better," is offered awkwardly for the phrasing of it, and there's a small wriggling of fingers across the pens to Chielyth despite the greenrider's warning. Settling deeper into her lean, Edela watches Zraith quietly; no indication she'll be leaving, not until he's done eating, at least.
A twitch of one corner of his mouth isn't even close to a smile, but the look in G'dri's eyes warms considerably for the apology when it's offered. "Noted," he says quietly, but doesn't give any outward indication of a mental warning to his blue. "Indeed," he continues, an echo of Edela's awkward sentiment. "It's off schedule, but perhaps if this storm opens up, she can catch up on some sleep during." He too doesn't look like he'll be leaving the pens any time soon, though he will give Edela some space, before time comes to escort her and Zraith back to the barracks. Just to make sure the brown actually /gets/ there.
Shells, I gotta get her to sleep and try to get something in her before drills later. She ain't in no mood for nothing, s'just flowers all the time. Should sit down tonight and try and figure out how much sleep I can get in her before she goes up, and she got to have at least one good meal.