Dear Faranth Why [Future Designs Class, Open]

Sharding ridiculous.

Fellis let out a tiny peep, pressing his small body tightly against Talian's neck as the pair looked up at Khaduceth. At only four months old, the dragonet had two feet on Talian at the shoulder, and that was disgusting. It seemed like only the blink of an eye, and suddenly the comfortable bench-sized dragonet had become some sort of enormous monster. Talian had always known that browns were large dragons, much larger than Veeth or Larrikith, but only now was it beginning to sink in. His little Khaduceth, who had never truly been little, was actually going to get huge.

Talian looked at B'jin. They'd already put off mounting and riding for a month longer than they were supposed to. Surely they could put it off a little more. B'jin had been awfully conscious of keeping the class on as even a level as possible and was reluctant to move from lectures and mental exercises to things like this. Talian had been just fine with it, though his two brownrider classmates had complained bitterly.

Oh, why was he even trying? Both he and B'jin knew they'd put it off as long as possible. Talian sighed, acutely aware of his classmates' eyes boring into him, and looked back at Khaduceth. The dragon was looking at him patiently and expectantly, wings folded neatly on his shoulders and tail swishing softly behind him. Nearby, the other two brown weyrlings were already mounted and ready to go. Talian was next, and everyone was watching. Shards.

He took a deep breath. "All right," he said, motioning for Khaduceth to lower his head. The dragon crooned and lowered his neck, eyes settling into a soothing shade of blue. Talian bit his lip and stepped up onto Khaduceth's raised foot, as he'd seen B'jin hundreds times. He paused, however, when he found the next step a little more difficult than he anticipated.

Off to the side, one of their greenrider classmates groaned. Why are they so slow?! his impatient partner complained audibly, though whether or not the quip was intentionally broadcast was anyone's guess. Talian gritted his teeth and clung tight to Kkhaduceth's neck as the brown's head snapped in her direction and he hissed deeply, unamused by her impatience. He scolded her silently, causing her to creel and her eyes to flush red.  Fool the dragon mumbled to his rider, accusing eyes locked on the startled green as Talian tried and failed to regain his composure.

It's all right. Come on, ignore them khaduceth urged, though he sounded stiff and preoccupied, very much distracted by keeping an eye on his rude sister. Talian sighed and took a deep breath before trying again, pushing himself up and over the dragon's neck. He grabbed  awkwardly at Khaduceth's shoulders, wondering how the shards he was supposed to maintain his balance and actually slip into the gap in the spines. This was a mess! He'd always been able to repeat anything he'd seen done just once or twice, but this was so different then preparing medicine or stitching a wound. For the first time in a long time, his steady hands failed him. He lost his balance and slid inelegantly over the dragonet's neck, letting out an undignified shout as he fell to the ground seven feet below.

Khaduceth's eyes flashed red and he cringed. Talian! he gasped, lowering himself to his belly and curling tail, neck and wing around the young man to shield him from his classmates' eyes.

Talian just laid there for a moment and sighed. He was going to have a headache for days, and not just from the fall. "I'm fine," he groaned, trying to ignore his classmates' fits of laughter.

How humbling.

Seijin waited and watched. He was excited about this next part actually being able to finally get on Araith's  back.  He worried at first that he'd hurt her but  then he remembered that dragons are much more resilient then he was giving his credit for.  And of course  weyrling Master B'jin said that it was perfectly safe. And of course he trusted the greenrider completely.

He watched quietly as Talian began to mount his dragon. Kkhaduceth Seijin remembered the browns name. He heard the impatience in the other classmates voices specially the brown riders who were already mounted.  Seijin shook his head softly he didn't think any of them had the right to be impatient. After all none of them were experts in anything and if someone needs more time in a certain area they  needed it.

He heard one of the young greens  that were by him and Araith speak outloud. He turned in her direction as he saw the browns head snap over to her.  He knew somehow that the brown was speaking to her and it wasn't pleasant from her reaction.

Seijin  squeeked when he saw Talian fall and started to head over to him to check on him. Seijin and Araith were not laughting at all. They were both worried that Talian had hurt himself. " Are you alright Talian?" He asked softly. Seijin  heard a muffled voice speaking from under the wing and tail wrapped around him protecting him. Seijin looked over at the brown warily  he didn't wanna get on his bad side so he started to back away. He knew he didn't wanna come between a rider and his protective dragon.

He’d put it off for as long as he could, wanting to make sure the green and blue could be included in the lesson as soon as possible. As a compromised, he’d promised to stagger the lesson, allowing all the colours to take their turn mounted upon their dragon that day. The blue, and the green, would be heavily restricted in how long and often they could ride their dragons, but B’jin felt so much better at being able to mount them all up on the same day that he was prepared to monitor the progress of the smaller colours more heavily. Chances were they would have all tried by now if he hadn’t made the browns wait at any rate, something that B’jin knew would have caused massive headaches for himself and Larrikith. So, instead of having to watch all of them for unauthorised dragonriding, B’jin had justified his actions to those that questioned them by pointing out that this way, he only had to watch half a handful of anxious brown-bonded weyrlings. The blue and green wouldn’t try the trick, not while the brown were being denied.

B’jin flinched at the sound of one of the green’s voices whipping through his mind, frowning in her direction with every intention of having Larrikith scold the pompous little creature back into place when Khaduceth beat them both to it, the brown dragonet’s actions making B’jin’s eyes widen as he watched, though he made no comment, settling on shooting the young man as ‘what do you expect?’ look that was riddled with disproval for the boy’s actions when the Weyrling sent an imploring and demanding expression his way. Learn your place! Larrikith snapped privately to the green dragonet and her rider.

When he was convinced the boy was cowed enough, B’jin turned his attention back to Talian, watching as the boy seemed to try and collect himself. A frown furrowed B’jin’s eyebrows slightly – something was wrong with Talian’s stance! – but before the man could focus on what exactly was so wrong with it, Talian was up and over the other side, splattered against the grass like a bird shit. B’jin pursed his lips, but his amusement was as clearly seen as his concern, the greenrider waving at the Weyrlings who were taking far too much enjoyment out of the sight (Larrikith’s mind crashing into that of those at fault of too obvious amusement and bringing them into line, brown, blue and green alike) while B’jin skittered around Khaduceth to peer in at Talian, giggling softly at the boy’s words.

“He’s fine,” B’jin assured Seijin, looking up and smiling reassuringly at the young man before he tilted to peer down at Talian again without getting too close to Khaduceth. “If he was hurt, he’d be barking orders.” A loving dig. “Why don’t you help him back to his feet, Seijin. You seem to have some capacity to understand team work” – the last part was growled out, the Weyrlingmaster’s brown eyes hardening as he spun around to glare at the rest of the class, spine straight and stance hard.

“Funny, is it, when a member of your wing is hurt?” He asked rhetorically, standing before them all with his arms crossed over his chest, eyes pausing to meet each of the young men’s, while their dragons cowered under the private word lashing Larrikith was delivering upon them. “Perhaps you’ll find it funny when a class mate’s dragon gets cramp in their wing, and crashes into the side of a mountain.” A dramatic pause while Larrikith painted an incredibly detailed picture of what that would look like; whether it was fact or fiction was left for the young men to decide. Seijin, Talian and both their young dragons were included in the dramatic image sharing. B’jin threw an arm toward the direction Talian was in, though he didn’t turn to look. “Don’t wait for someone to falter!” B’jin growled, returning his arm to recross with its mate over his chest. He knew many of the class were petty enough to find watching one another fail at the simplistic tasks they currently underwent amusing.

“Be worthy of your dragon! Step up and show us they didn’t make a fucking mistake by picking some petty, worthless little brat with a snivelling nose. There are weyrbred brats that would give their left nut for your dragon. Fucking act like a dragonrider.” Glaring harshly at the young men for a moment, B’jin spun around to face Talian. “Mount up, Tal.” His voice almost startlingly soft after the near should that had previously controlled the Harper’s well trained voice.

Well. That escalated quickly. LOL.

Boy, this was unpleasant. Talian lay sprawled miserably in the grass for a few long moments as Khaduceth shielded him from the others' cruel eyes. He lazily and reluctantly rolled his head towards both B'jin and Seijin as they spoke, his disgruntled expression lingering from both the fall and the laughter of the rest of the class. He didn't particularly want to be rescued, but he was quickly reminded that they were only trying to help, and it even concerned him a bit to see Seijin reacting so nervously to Khaduceth's anger.

Talian exhaled slowly. "...I'm fine," he repeated, frowning and climbing stiffly to his feet. He didn't want help standing; he was absolutely tired of looking weak in front of this classmates, every single one of whom he more or less despised, with the exception of Seijin. The young greenrider was kind and helpful, Talian just didn't understand him. The rest of them were disgusting in his estimation, and he had no patience for their callousness.

B'jin's speech went almost entirely ignored as Talian looked back to his dragon. Khaduceth sent the boy a silent question before lowering his head, suddenly well aware of his rider's stubborn determination. As B'jin spoke, Talian scrambled awkwardly onto the dragon's leg and then onto his neck, perching himself precariously atop the beast so that when B'jin turned to him with that soft, sweet expression and tone, the boy had already done as B'jin had asked.

Granted...he wasn't doing it right, but he was doing it.

He smiled back at his father figure and then frowned at himself; sitting on a dragon was supposed to be comfortable, right? You need to slide back a bit Khaduceth suggested gently, his tone still tight and bristling with annoyance after the green's outburst. Many of his siblings and their bondeds might have made an enemy of him just now, where they actually worth his time. All they'd done was prove how useless they were!

Talian frowned and scooted back. Oh! Much better!

"Um, I...I think I have it."

Seijin started over to help Talian up as  B'jin suggested but he had managed to get up all on his own.  Seijin understood why though after having the class laugh like that wasn't fun and it even made the mild green rider a bit annoyed himself with his classmates.  He didn't blame Khaduceth for being angry either. He knew the dragon was protecting his rider. He experienced the fierce loyality of his own darling Araith. He looked back at Araith who was surprisingly quiet.  The quietness of his green beauty was a testimony in itself she was never quiet so this upset her greatly.

Seijin stepped back closer to Araith as he watched Talian try again. He reached up and rubbed along Araith neck soothingly  calming her as much as touching her calmed the turmoil in his own mind.  He worried about  falling off himself but Araith wasn't as big as khaduceth.  Seijin smiled when  Talian finally adjusted  on his dragons back and said that he though he had it.

Seijin turned to B'jin to see if he had anything else to say before he attempted the feat himself. He swallowed softly while he was excited to be able to get on Araith's back he was also nervous about hurting her.

B’jin nodded when all the brownriders were mounted up, watching Talian carefully for a moment before turning to the anxiously fidgeting as they waited for their turn to mount up. The greenrider barely had time to get out an encouraging smile before the young men were all scrabbling to find their footing and climb aboard their dragonets. With most the green and blue standing at about six feet at the shoulder, it was an amusing moment as B’jin watched several forget in their excitement to ask their young partner to actually duck down so they could climb aboard. Grinning cheerfully at the enthusiasm that was being displayed, B’jin set about correcting postures.

Starting with the brownriders, B’jin corrected some placements, telling the young men to sit straighter – it would help them balance much more naturally than clinging to the dragon’s neck like they’d topple off! – And patted Talian on the calf as he passed, nodding when the young man’s posture was met as suitable. The blueriders were moved through casually, the Harper biting the inside of his lip with amused glee as he helped his poster child sit properly, shifting the young man almost bodily while Larrikith instructed the dragonet, and young man, both mentally while adding little quips into the back of B’jin’s mind.

The young greenriders were come to next, B’jin pausing as he nodded at them to mount up. As they did so, B’jin instructed Larrikith to begin setting up the brown and blueriders, preparing them for their first walk around the square. Larrikith gleefully pranced to the front of the class, and set about nosing the brown dragonets into order, pointedly ignoring how much bigger than herself many of them were. Even some of the blues were now longer than she! She was still taller than most of them, however, and with her wings extended upright in her excitement, she really only looked bigger. Content that they were set up appropriately, Larrikith instructed them to stay put as she pranced back to B’jin.

“Mount up, boys, and we’ll all embark upon our first walk of the Gather Square!” helping up a couple of the young men who were having difficulty, B’jin adjusted their posture before moving on to Seijin; his timidity about hurting his dragon was almost written on his face, and B’jin patted his knee gently. “You won’t hurt her, and you won’t be on long enough to tire her out too much. As greenriders,” He stepped back slightly, to speak to the greenriders in particular, though his voice carried pointedly to the other weyrlings, “as dragonriders, you will need to learn when to pick up on – and acknowledge – your dragon’s limitations. A tired dragon is one that gets cramp, or drops out of the sky in exhaustion.” Patting Seijin’s knee again, B’jin made his way over to Larrikith and threw himself on board with a practised ease that had taken him a long time to learn.

“Alright! I want you to do one circuit of the Square, and then meet back here. No faster than a walk or you’ll be grounded for a week!” While riding their dragons on the ground could be considered ungainly, being told to sit the fuck on the grass while everyone else pranced round doing pony rides would be far more embarrassing! Content they would do as they were told, at least for this lesson, B’jin waved the brownriders to lead the way, while keeping an eye on the smaller green dragonets. They were far more likely to falter than their larger brothers, and B’jin wanted to make sure none of them injured themselves in their determination to please their human half.