Learing to bond

Writers: Avery, AmajoS, Heather, Paula
Date Posted: 15th April 2019

Characters: T'leri, T'min, A'nir, G'nir, E'naer
Description: Weyrlingclass for exploring the bond between rider and dragon don't go quite according to plans.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 10, day 9 of Turn 9

G'nir

E'naer watched the weyrlings settling into the class room. Their
Hatching had been coloured with tragedy and injuries. But
weyrlingtraining couldn't been postponed.

"Hello, class. In case someone doesn't know, I'm E'naer,
weyrlingmaster's third and dragonhealer. I'll be you teacher for this
lesson. Has everyone's dragonet a full belly?" The last thing he
wanted was someone leave mid class to feed a dragon.

G'nir stood at the back of the room. This was E'naer's specialty, he
was mostly observing and ready to give the greenrider a hand if
needed.

Iebrath's belly was so full that her belly had been bulging when they
had left breakfast that morning. A'nir hadn't had much of an appetite,
riddled with nerves over their first lesson, because he felt a
pressure to do well since his uncle was the Weyrlingmaster. He
glanced around at the other Weyrlings to see if anyone else looked as
nervous as he felt.

Osgrath was laying next to T'min, his head in the boy's lap and his
eyelids at half-mast. The little brown wasn't asleep, but he might
drift off at any moment.

T'min was eager for the class, but also nervous. He hadn't had turns
of candidate classes to draw from and felt very out of his depth with
a new dragon. He caught A'nir's eye as the older weyrling looked
around and offered him a nervous grin.

"Today we're learing about the bond between you and your dragon, how
to use it and how to close it. While dragons don't have a need for
privacy, we humans do have. There are times we want to be alone in our
head. However, even closed, the bond is still there and you can still
sense each other in base level," E'naer continued. "It's also possible
to use the bond to share what you sense, literally see thru the others
eyes: I must warn you, seeing thru your dragons eyes can be
disorienting, since their eyes and the way they see world is very
different. Hearing and tasting aren't that different, although
personally I never was really fond of tasting raw herdbeast."

T'min winced a bit, having experienced that particular unpleasant
sensation himself. He hadn't tried looking through his dragon's eyes
though. Almost as soon as he had the thought, his perception shifted
and suddenly he was viewing the class from what seemed like multiple
angles, but from the same direction. His mind had a difficult time
wrapping itself around what he was seeing and he jerked slightly,
dislodging Osgrath's head from his lap.

}:What's wrong?:{ The brown blinked sleepily and T'min was treated to
a look at his own face reflected back at him, only distorted from the
many faceted gaze of his dragon.

**How do I undo it?** The weyrling rider thought at his dragon with
some urgency. He hadn't meant to do it in the first place. When their
instructor had mentioned the possibility, he'd wondered what it would
be like, and then it had just happened. Now, he had no idea how to
make it unhappen.

G'nir noticed T'min's distress. Since E'naer was still continuing his
lecture, he went to investigate. "T'min? Something wrong?" he crouched
nex to the weyrling.

A'nir couldn't help it, even though E'nar was still talking, he was
glancing sideways to see what was going on with T'min.

T'leri was unaware that there was a problem going on with T'min. He
was paying attention to E'naer's lecture. He'd heard a lot of this
before from his family, especially about how the bond was always
there. Seeing how hard it had been on his dragonriding releatives
whenever their dragon was injured would bring that home, and so did
knowing how strongly mating flights affected people. But it was one
thing to hear it in class or from your family, and another to be
experiencing it yourself. Girath's presence in his mind was certainly
very strong and very assertive, he understood now what his sister
meant when she said her green's mind was willful.

T'min turned his head toward the sound of the Weyrlingmaster but his
vision was still focused on a many-faceted view of himself. It was
beyond disorienting, to turn your head and not have what you're seeing
change. Nevermind seeing it refracted like that. "I didn't mean to!"
He whispered urgently in the direction he thought the man had spoken
from. **Osgrath, turn your head, please?** He thought to ask his
dragon after a moment.

Osgrath obliged and looked at the other man as well. Now at least,
T'min could see G'nir.

"Close your eyes and visualize a Hold with two rooms, a door between
them. One room is you, other one is Osgrath. Walk yourself into your
room and close the door," G'nir instructed, keeping his voice low.

In the front E'naer was explaining how they could use mental images
and symbols to represent the bond between themselves and their
dragons. The room/house or rope being most popular.

T'min did his best to follow the advice. He closed his eyes and
imagined a room with a door leading to another room. He imagined
moving from one room to the other. But then he hesitated. "But, will
it hurt Osgrath if I shut the door? I don't want to keep him out," he
whispered the question, his eyes still shut. He could hear the rest of
the class going on in the background and blushed a bit, embarrassed.

"No, he can still hear you thru the door," G'nir replied "And there's
the cracks between door and the frame. Once you're back in your own
head, you can open the door again, carefully, Imagine yourself just
peering from half opened door to Osgrath's mind. That way you don't
get overwhelmed."

T'min shut the door, carefully imagining it with gaps around the frame
and a big keyhole, just in case. As soon as the door shut, he felt a
tiny shift in his head and, after a moment's hesitation, he opened his
eyes. He could see again. Well, he could see before, but now he was
seeing out of his own eyes. He breathed a sigh of relief and then
spoke to his dragon,**You can still hear me, Osgarth?**

}:Of course I can hear you,:{ was the little dragon's bewildered
reply. He didn't know what all this fuss was about. }:Are you alright
now?:{

**Yes, much better,** T'min wondered if dagons got as disoriented
looking through their rider's eyes but decided to ask later. He'd been
enough of a disruption for this class already. "That worked, thank you
Weyrlingmaster," T'min said quietly to G'nir, his face burning. He
glanced over at A'nir and felt even more embarrassed.

"That's alright, it's my job," G'nir replied, gave him encouraging pat
and returned to the back of the classroom. E'naer gave him quizzical
"everything alright?" look and G'nir replied with the handsignal for:
all's well. Those signals would be taught to weyrlings in later
classes.

Even as G'nir returned to his place, A'nir snuck another glance at
T'min, wondering what had been happening with the other Weyrling.
A'nir didn't even bother trying to ask Iberath because she was
snoozing beside him without a care in the world.

Last updated on the April 16th 2019

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Learing to bond