You amble eastwards to the weyrling field.
Nallath lumbers in from the weyrling barracks.
K'rain walks over from the bowl, tucking his shirt into his pants and straightening his clothing as he walks. Gynraeth has been lounging in a corner of the field. She perks up and lifts her head when her rider approaches, then gets to her feet and minces out to greet him with a happy warble.
Osasune ambles in from the weyrling barracks.
Caledoth lumbers in from the weyrling barracks.
Baedanth almost prances about with the enthusiasm he feels, and T'nar echoes his brown's feelings with a wide grin. "Someone is /much more/ than ready to hunt on their own," he observes. Bae is indeed quite ready, his eyes whirling myriad colrs and at rapid speed.
Osasune emerges from the barracks with Caledoth, who glistens with a fresh application of oil. Osasune's got a few small bandages on her hands, speaking of little slips with leatherworking tools.
"Come /on/," mutters Ilesyn; Nallath seems to have taken this opportunity to consider the jagged points of the bowl wall against the sky rather beautiful, and is this entranced, and having none of this movement stuff.
K'rain glances at Ilesyn with faint amusement showing on his face. Then he grins at T'nar, clapping his hands to gather attention to him. "Good," he says to the brownrider. "Baedanth can go first then. Everybody! Gynraeth is going to show your dragons how to hunt. I want riders to gather in that corner of the field," he points to the area adjoining the feeding pens, "and dragons need to get wherever they can see. Only one weyrling dragon in the pens at a time though, so keep them in the field for now."
T'nar smirks at his weyrmates brightly whirling eyes. "It's about time you got your own food, Bae. I can't seem to keep up with chopping it up for you." He greets the other weyrlings with a half-smile and a wave. A salute and nod at K'rain, and Baedanth warbles loudly, puffing his chest out with enthusiasm.
Nallath certainly doesn't seem inclined to movement, so Ilesyn merely steps forward towards the corner on her own. Her expression - heavily layered - professes interest mixed with reluctance, a measure not unusual for her these past months.
Osasune trails after Ilesyn, mumbling, "This is going to be gross. Everyone says it's going to be gross." Her eyes unfocus a little, and she giggles.
K'rain watches as some of the weyrlings start to drift over, then raises his voice. "On the double! We don't want to be all day about this." He trots over toward the corner at a brisk pace, with Gynraeth gallumphing behind. Of course, it's that much easier if she just takes off and flies over, low to the ground, so that's what she does, and beats everyone there.
Caledoth marches as best as a gawky growing dragon can toward a spot with a good view of the pens. He rustles his rings and croons.
"Probably," says Ilesyn, somewhat shortly. She reviews the feeding grounds with a shrug of her shoulders, and then nods. "Definitely."
Baedanth seems to wait for the other dragons, and then finds a spot that suits him well, eyeing the pens with calculated intent.
Fort senses Baedanth projects << I will finally kill my /own/ today! >>
K'rain turns around to face the weyrlings when everyone is well gathered. "Okay, now everybody -- and your dragons -- watch Gynraeth closely. She's going to glide over the pens, cut a beast from the herd, and kill it. For simplicity we are going to work on doing herdbeasts today. That's easiest. Any questions?"
"Caledoth wants to know how to choose which beast to take," Osasune immediately says.
T'nar shakes his head, torn between watching K'rain and his own beast. "No, sir."
"N-- /He/ wants to know what the perfect way to do it is. Can Gynraeth do it, until he has a good idea?" Ilesyn's voice is droll - she's not serious. Nallath, however...
"Two things," K'rain says, using his fingers to list them. "One, if he sees one he wants, maybe it looks plumper than the rest or something, he can go for that one. But, the beast you kill needs to be far enough from the rest of the herd that you don't accidentally take out half a dozen when you only meant to get one. See? So, sometimes the beast that breaks from the herd isn't the one you want. It's usually easier just to go ahead and kill that one. Experienced dragons can afford to be pickier about it than yours can. I would advise him to kill the first one he can reach with enough room."
Caledoth, having swung his head toward K'rain, warbles quietly.
K'rain turns to Ilesyn. He must have missed the droll thing, because he answers the question as though it were absolutely serious. "Tell him he won't be able to do it perfectly until he's had a lot of practice. As long as he ends up with an animal he can eat, it doesn't matter if it was perfect or not." A brief pause. "Any other questions?"
Osasune nods as well, smiling a bit. "Got it. Thank you, Assistant Weyrlingmater K'rain."
Ilesyn merely sighs, nodding her head. "Do you hear that?" she mutters, beneath her breath. "/Stop/ that!" Nallath's still fascinated with the stone spires, but he ambles along - slowly, because there is much to see - towards the edge of the pens.
Gynraeth rustles her wings, nuzzling at one of them with her muzzle, perhaps to get at an itch or remove some microscopic speck of dirt. K'rain turns to her, and she straightens up immediately. He gives her a more affectionate smile than is ordinarily seen from him, and nods wordlessly. She spreads her wings and takes off, flying over the fence into the feeding pens.
Baedanth takes his eyes off of the pens for only a scant second to acknowledge K'rain, and then resumes his intent watching.
T'nar watches Gynraeth with cool calculation, and Baedanth rumbles back to his mate - both of them sharing some silent comments.
Osasune tilts her chin up, forehead wrinkling a little as she regards Gynraeth's progress with less eagerness than her lifemate.
Ilesyn crosses her arms in front of her, over her chest, and watches, leaning forward against the fencepost.
As the green approaches overhead, the animals start lowing and moving about nervously. Then one breaks into a run, and the rest follow. Gynraeth angles her flight, dipping lower and lower until one startled animal breaks from the rest of the herd, and it's then that she drops down to land, striking out with a vicious blow of her foreclaws in the same motion. Mortally wounded, the bovine falls to the ground with a loud bleat, and Gynraeth takes its head in her mouth and twists, neatly breaking its neck.
Osasune's teeth sink into her lower lip; she grimaces a bit, shifting her weight from side to side. In the meantime, Caledoth croons again.
Nallath's attention - finally! - is properly caught by the feeding process; he tilts his head to the side, considers Gynraeth's progress, and then settles down upon his haunches, wings furled tidily about himself. "No," mutters Ilesyn. "It's no different from cut up meat. No need to inspect it. No."
Baedanth rumbles loudly, his eyes whirling even faster, taking on more shades of red as the adult green makes her kill. T'nar nods with silent approval on the quick, neat kill.
Gynraeth looks back to her rider for permission, and at K'rain's nod, starts to tear strips of meat off the carcass with tooth and claw, and devour it. "Okay," the greenrider says. "The eating is straightforward. It's the killing that we're working on. So. T'nar, does Baedanth want to go first? You're going to take turns," he tells the weyrlings, looking hard at one young man who's talking to his neighbor, "but I want everyone to pay attention, because we're all going to give suggestions after each dragon has his turn."
T'nar laughs at K'rain's question, and Baedanth snorts loudly. "I think Baedanth would have some words if he couldn't go first on /this/ particular lesson, sir!"
"I think he would just have to be patient if he wasn't," mutters Ilesyn, in response to T'nar's comment, though she nods slowly - seriously, too, for that matter - towards K'rain.
Osasune starts chewing on a thumbnail, nodding. "Suggestions. Right. Watch and suggest things. Umn. Umn. Okay."
K'rain nods, smiling slightly at Osasune. "All right then, T'nar. Have him go ahead whenever he is ready."
T'nar nods at the Weyrlingmaster, and then his eyes unfocus for a few long seconds as he speaks with his bondmate. With startling speed, Baedanth is aloft, gaining some decent altitude to peruse the herd. The compact, powerful brown doesn't waste much time with deciding, and begins to pass lower and lower, as Gynraeth did, to stir up the herdbeasts.
Osasune continues chewing on her thumbnail. Caledoth warbles encouragingly to Baedanth.
K'rain watches with his arms folded across his chest, expressionless. Gynraeth looks up from her meat and sits back on her haunches to watch Baedanth's progress.
Ilesyn stands, waiting, her hands uncrossing to rest upon the fencepost.
Baedanth makes the start of what he's decided is his final pass, and singles out one of the beasts which bolts towards the opposite end of the pens - away from the others. Graceful he is not - not yet - but with a hunter's efficiency the herdbeast is driven, corraled, and impaled upon long talons with a giant swipe - breaking its back as Baedanth releases the dead thing. veering back around, the brown lands a bit awkwardly, taking the beast up between his fangs, and launches both bodies outside the pen and down with a muffled THUMP. A decent landing this time, and then Bae trumpets his success to the winds, eyes roiling redly.
K'rain smiles and claps his hands together approvingly. "Excellent work, Baedanth. Now. What did you all think? Was there anything Baedanth did especially well, or anything he could improve upon next time?"
Ilesyn shrugs her shoulders. "Landing, probably." She doesn't seem much fussed at adding further comments.
"He's, um, he could - er - they can't eat in the pen?" Osasune blurts.
"If they did, it'd get crowded," K'rain points out. "We want the other hunting dragons to have plenty of room." He nods a little but at Ilesyn. "Landing, what about the landing?" he prompts.
"It was awkward," says Ilesyn, still shrugging.
K'rain says "Why do you think it was awkward?" He looks around at the other weyrlings, so as not to pick on Ilesyn. "Anyone?""
T'nar grins wolfishly at his beast's first kill, admiration showing through as well. "Landings, of course. But I think he did well for a first time." Inquiring look s are given to his fellow Weurlings, and then to K'rain, wiating for more information.
"He killed that thing pretty darn good, yes," Osasune says, gesturing with a fist for emphasis.
K'rain chuckles. "He did do quite well," K'rain says to T'nar. "We probably won't see everyone succeed on their first try. Okay, who wants to be next? How about Caledoth?"
Baedanth warbles, and then rumbles impatiently - waiting a bit unhappily for his rider's okay to eat.
Fort weyrling dragons sense Baedanth projects << Can I /eat/ now?!!? >>
Fort weyrling dragons sense Gynraeth projects << Of course. >>
"Okay," Osasune says, nearly drowned out by Caledoth's cheery warble.
T'nar waves Baedanth on, and the brown begins to tear chunks from the beast's carcass, his muzzle bloody in triumph as he chews and watches Caledoth's attempt.
Caledoth trundles back from the pen, then hunkers down for a moment before launching himself awkwardly into the air. A few flaps of dark wings, and he's sailing toward the pen waveringly. The herdbeasts bleep and scatter, and Caledoth watches them run. A small one breaks from the herd; Caledoth doesn't seem to follow it. "No, that one," Osasune's mumbling quietly. The blue still soars. "It's your first, it doesn't have to be big. Please?" Caledoth rumbles, then dives down to snap at the herdbeast's neck. He misses, but plows the creature over with his shoulder, anyway. Swinging his head, he grasps it in his mouth and flaps over the fence of the pen to land a distance away from Baedanth, blood running down his jaws and dripping onto the fence and ground.
"You got one!" K'rain cheers, praising the blue. "Excellent work. Okay, any comments about Caledoth's method?" He looks around to the other weyrlings.
Ilesyn hesitates, placing her elbow upon the fencepost, her hand supporting her chin. "I think he missed where he was aiming," she reflects.
Osasune hurriedly looks away as Caledoth starts ripping into the herdbeast, slicing open it's stomach so the entrails spill out onto the grass in a steaming pile. "He did," she tells Ilesyn, face going pale. She tries to swallow, then gags some.
He should make his decision and stick to it before getting too close to the animals," T'nar murmurs softly. "But the actual /kill/ itself was decent." Baedanth rumbles soft thunders of congratulations to Caledoth, and then dips down for another mouthful.
"That's a good point, T'nar," K'rain says, gesturing for the weyrling to speak up. "What do you think he should have done when the beast he didn't want broke away from the herd?"
T'nar squints, thinking. "Maybe backed off from the herd until they were reassembled, and then made another try? Or just stick with the one that broke."
Osasune nods mutely, eyes wide. She looks distinctly troubled.
Ilesyn shakes her head. Nallath huffs towards the feeding grounds. "Not yet."
K'rain nods again to T'nar. "Either of those approaches would have been fine. He probably would have had more accuracy, then," he says with a nod to Ilesyn. Then he notices Osasune's expression, and raises an eyebrow at her. "Is everything all right?"
Osasune presses a hand over her mouth as Caledoth rips off a chunk of the herdbeast's flesh and chews vigorously on it. She shakes her head a little, pale.
"Okay, you're feeling a little sick, aren't you?" K'rain says. "It will pass. Try to distance yourself from what he's broadcasting. The best way to do that is to think about something else - not to try /not/ to think about what he's thinking. Remember something pleasant. A good memory."
T'nar glances over at Osa's not-so-pleased expression, and shrugs very slightly. "I did that a few times when I first started hunting," he tries to offer up with some sympathy for the young woman.
Osasune blinks at T'nar, nodding gently before squeezing her eyes shut and clamping down a little harder on her mouth.
K'rain indicates for Osasune to step away from the others for a bit. "Why don't you sit down on the grass? Just try to relax," he tells her, smiling encouragingly. Then he turns back to the group. "Okay, who's next?"
"Uh, me, I suppose." Ilesyn casts a quick glance towards Osa, winces, and turns back away.
K'rain nods acknowledgement to Ilesyn. "Okay. Whenever Nallath's ready, he can go."
Osasune backs up a few steps and plunks down on the grass quietly.
T'nar lifts his head, still chewing from the remaings bit of his herdbeast, and watches Nallath with blue-eyed interest.
Nallath lifts off from the ground, supported by a powerful downstroke with his broad wings; gliding higher, he circles above the feeding grounds, and Ilesyn mutters something - something like, "Yes, they're beautiful, but you just need to /eat/ the things, not watch them." Nallath makes no audible sound - instead, he dives, wings furling about him, lunging towards the nearest herdbeast with perfect precision that would work wonderfully - if it were not for the fact that the herdbeast can move, and does so; thus, Nallath ends up grasping at nothing but air, and reaching back up into the sky to try again. His second attempt is equally imperfect, but he does manage to sink his teeth into a herdbeast's head, and both of them end up more or less safely upon the ground, if dead, in the case of the smaller of the two.
K'rain smiles, nodding as he turns back from watching Nallath to face the weyrlings. "Right then. Any comments about Nallath's try?"
T'nar again nods in acceptance of Nallath's catch, and Baedanth gives a supporting rumble. "He should leave himself more room for sudden changes of direction, perhaps?"
"He missed." Ilesyn's almost cheerful about this; she doesn't so much as glance at Nallath, as he settles down with his carcass, exploring it with great glee - wow, there are different /bits/ to it!
"He did miss," K'rain replies, "and that's a good suggestion for what to do to avoid that, T'nar. But did you see what he did after? The best thing you can do. He lifted higher again, to try again. You always have more maneuverability further from the ground."
T'nar nods at K'rain, lips curving into a small smile. "I do miss the 'above' aspect of hunting sometimes as a human. Dragons have a better three-dimensional perspective of hunting than we do."
Nallath huffs, comfortably, indulging in exploration of his kill. "No, I don't need to see it," she mutters, glaring at the brown, though her expression turns - almost - proud at the talk of his technique. "Of course they do," she says, irritably. "They can fly."
K'rain grins. "Exactly! That's one thing to always remember. That dragons hunt in three dimensions, not two. Okay, I think that's all for today, so you're dismissed, and your dragons can finish up their meals at their leisure. The three of you are now cleared to hunt at the feeding grounds whenever your lifemates are hungry."
T'nar looks with faint irritation at Ilesyn. "Second time you spoke the obvious, Ile."
"It's /Ilesyn/," retorts the bearer of that name, glancing back at T'nar. "And probably the thousandth time that you showed off, and played the know-it-all. It's a character flaw of yours, but you could overcome it, if you only /thought/. Obviously, it's beyond your capabilities. -- No! /You/ don't need to do that. Idiot." Evidently, the last is towards Nallath, as Ilesyn trots back towards the barracks.
You amble westwards to the Weyrling barracks.
Nallath> Baedanth finishes... everything. Not a scrap left from his kill as he licks his bloody muzzle clean. "Let's go get you a quick plunge in the Lake, Bae - remove the blood and smell from your hide." A faint grin to K'rain. "Thanks, sir." And they go off in search of a bath.
Nallath> T'nar can be heard as he strides off with Baedanth, "Of /course/ I wasn't showing off. I'm a /hunter/, for Faranth's sake!"
Nallath> K'rain gives T'nar a warning look. "Don't start a fight, please?" he says, then shakes his head. "I'll be in the barracks if anyone needs anything."
Posted by Louise at January 29, 2003 05:02 PM