I Believe I Can Fly! [Tideturners!]

As always Q'sis awoke just ahead of Rukbat, or rather his eyes opened but he lay still until Unath's mental touch reassured him. She remained asleep, but spared that tiny nudge for him every day. The Tanrider began moving through what was now a long-drilled routine: pulling on some semblance of clothing, getting out and filling the water buckets and scrubbing Unath where she needed it, and finally coaxing the dragon awake so he could get at her belly and other places secreted by her huddled resting posture. Much of this he did in utter darkness, feeling along Unath with his hand rather than his eyes. He wore a pair of cloth pantlegs reserved especially for the task and threw no more than a simple cloak over his shoulders, to shut drafts out from his back.

When he started seeking the oil buckets for the second phase of Unath's cleaning he tipped open the glowbaskets fastened around the enormous Weyrling room. Chiseled by green light, he started polishing the final touches on the Tan, who was now fully awake and resting her head on-high with a slight preferential tilt toward the man attending her. Her eyes green as glows blinked as the announcement intended to rouse the Weyrlings from sleep reached her. Unath said nothing beyond a heavy flick of her forked tail against the stone. Q'sis too was silent but for gesture: extending his hand toward the subqueen's face, then wrapping his arm as far as he could around it when she leaned down to rest her nose against his body.

Q'sis dragged the oil buckets away and went to shower himself. Unath was gone when he returned, sitting outside the barracks entryway and holding out her wings to soak what little sunlight they could while she was groundbound. Occasionally she searched around the Bowl with sharp pivots of her neck, or tossed her head back at the sky. When Q'sis emerged, he was wearing a thick black winter shirt over his current pair of wherhide trousers and boots, his temporary, ill-fitting jacket draped over his shoulders.

He did not even have quite the right set of gloves, relying on wool instead of wherhide, a scarf instead of the proper raised collar. All would be remedied at the upcoming Gather. Till then, if need be, he could requisition anything deemed essential after today. He had already picked up a cap, expecting his normal winter variant would blow away on take-off, and goggles. Currently the goggles balanced on his brow, while the cap was stuffed in a pocket. His arms were fully occupied with Unath's enormous riding straps. The dragon exhaled a whistling sigh of appreciation at the sight of him, an equivalent to the spoken Ohhhhhh's she had been fond of displaying her awe with when she was younger. Once Q'sis was ahead of her, she got up and followed at a dignified pace. She did not even have to extend her spotted wings for balance.

One fallible woman had replaced another. Q'sis blinked at Tasakhori, then turned to Unath and hauled the straps over her neck and chest with practiced ease. He paced around the set-up, grabbing the tail of each strap and planting his boot on Unath's side before he yanked fiercely on the leather. For each loop successfully stress-tested, he folded the excess back under a restraining buckle. He puppeted Unath's forearm into place with a thought and ascended to her shoulder, watching from there as Nimueth took off. What a terrible example the injured, scarred Green was. What a slight the new "Weyrlingmaster" had absorbed that the leadership did not see fit to put her own dragon under her.

Sidesaddle between the last two neckridges, he tucked the ankles of his pantlegs into the top of each boot till they were tightly restrained. He closed up the front of his jacket, and snapped his flight-goggles down over his narrow green eyes just as J'en approached to start assessing his prep work. Q'sis greeted the secondary Weyrlingmaster, but did not tease or grin at him. He pulled the cap from his pocket and fit his light brown hair beneath it, turning leathery and bald as a hatchling. After tightening his scarf and pushing the trailing ends under the body to mimic a proper neck-cuff, he swung his right leg over to Unath's right side and fastened his belt and leg leathers.

Then he simply waited for J'en to pronounce them fit to fly, watching the skies and resting his hand beside the ridge in front of him, fingers contracting every so often to rub the dragonhide at its base. Unath glanced back at him, then rotated her head to get a better look.

What are we doing today? she asked, talons already clenching against the ground and powerful legs shifting, mindful though of the Greenrider checking around her harness. The Tan put out her first two wing-spars, extending the membrane suggestively.

"You already know," Q'sis said before he pulled the front of the scarf over his mouth and nose. The first of the class went off just then, the stormy patterns of Wujith's dark wings blackening the Winter morning. Only after one dragon was aloft did Q'sis turn his head rather insistently to the perusing Weyrlingmaster. Finally he earned a nod. Unath opened her wings as a guard against the advance of any other would-be fliers and waddled out to the front of the class. Wujith was coming back in for his landing.

Horrible. Q'sis was ready to let the crash off with a grunt and a grimace, but the distinct snap of riding leathers foretold further misadventure. His heart tightened in his chest as the Black started to roll over onto his own rider, but the drama ended at a broken arm and a terrified dragonet. He scowled, watching the dazed boy stand.

Now? Unath inquired, impatient and oblivious. Q'sis shook his head, and his petting of the neckridge transformed into a bracing grip. All dragons knew how to fly; they were not dragons otherwise. And Unath knew she could manage this much without his assistance. The strong throb of her heart and the fixation of her usually clouded senses solely on the skies of Pern played evidence to her self-assessment.

Now.

Unath bellowed, drowning out Wujith's upset, but Q'sis cut the sound off before she actually transitioned into take-off. It was not particularly aerodynamic to hang one's jaws open, blue tongue flapping in the wind. Quelled to her duty, the gray-brown dragon flicked her hind legs out and leaped from the ground, easy as breathing. Her nostrils flared as her wings expanded through the air, pulling on the first critical downstroke that distinguished mere jumping from flight. Her feet suddenly emptied of earth pawed curiously at the open air till Q'sis tucked them back against the sides of her tail, as he had seen in the adult dragons. He followed the same procedure for her arms, stilling them in a delicate fold against her ribs.

Unath's wings exchanged their creamy tan undersides for the dappled brown of their backs regularly as she ascended, her power to clasp immense pockets of air for her use matched only by the Tideturners' two Irons, Mith, and Minanth. But of those five she was the first aloft. She was the strongest and fastest. She was happy. I cannot tell if these feelings are coming from me or you, Q'sis said, voice uncommonly thrilled. Unath started to circle the lake, and he thought of how long it took him to jog the same distance every other day.

He could hear very little, not even his lifemate's rhythmic, closed-mouth rumbles of excitement. His blood moving through his ears was the sole source of running commentary. But that was not right. Dragonriders did not communicate much by physical voice, but he had to hear if Tasa said anything to him at least. This deafness was in part due to a lack of restraint, so he clamped down on the electric surges of power through his and Unath's bloodstreams, and the noise cleared out. His heart slowed.

A heavenly blot, the young Tan completed one final circle, sunlight rolling orange across her oiled wings. No longer able to contain herself, she emptied her lungs in a bugle, the entire Weyr serving an echo chamber to her voice. Then she told Q'sis I'm tired and promptly stilled her wings to the stiff natural span that accompanied a glide. Her descent went rather swift, enough so that Q'sis had to force her into a few backwings as they approached the rest of the Tideturners. Unath lowered her legs from their arrested posture and hovered her way down the last few feet, touching the three talons of her right, then her left leg to the stone.

Q'sis tried to time the dropping of her forelegs with the final flap of her wings, to cushion the blow, and was semi-successful. Luckily he had a good strong brace against the ridge or he would have cracked his nose on her neck. Unath closed her wings with a little moan and shivered. I liked that. Q'sis leaned forward and clutched at her neck, rubbing at the muscle and bone and skin with energetic affection.

Magnificent, Unath.

The call from the green triggered an instant response in the Rider and Dragon. C’ian dropped everything and ran from their room just as Shirath looked mournfully at what he had dropped.
You didn’t finish oiling my hide! If I am not oiled all my siblings will think be hideous! I am not going out there! NEVER! Not until you finish oiling my hide! FINISH IT NOW!
Hey! If we’re flying then you’ll be able to impress your siblings anyway!
But I won’t be OIIILLEEDDD!!!
Come on! I’m already there!

And indeed, C’ian was already halfway to the lesson. Grumbling over spilt oil, Shirath moved from the room grudgingly eventually meeting up with His and standing beside him. C’ian grinned up at the purple who crooned softly, calming down. He didn’t need the others to love him. He had His.

This. Weyrlingmaster. Was. AWESOME! C’ian watched with adoring eyes as she described flying to them. As soon as she had finished talking he set about fixing Shirath’s straps, clambering all over the purple. When he finished, first, he stood there triumphantly. Only…
This is all wrong Mine. It feels weird. It’s wrong.
Naw it’s not.
Apparently it was not good at all. He had put the harness on back to front, Shirath standing there very uncomfortably indeed, as J’en walked past and told him to try again.

After a moment he had fixed the harness and the straps and been given the green light. C’ian petted Shirath’s side just as the dragon threw his head back to take flight. Head hitting neck C’ian fell back a little, dazed just as Shirath launched himself into the air.
“Oohh whoo hoo hoo…”
What happened!?
“Eeehhh heee heeeeee…”
SOMETHING HAS HAPPENED TO MINE! Shirath shouted at Pandemoniuth in a panic.
“Mmm heee good!”
Oh wait… I think he is all right.
They glided and flew a short distance before Shirath landed, skidding and jolting, hitting his rider once more but safely landing on the ground.


Lesson.
Fel batted angrily at her trio of flits as they flew excitedly at her hair and face.
“All right, I will get you more food but eat what’s there first.”
Her temper was a little shorter than usual as she was dealing with a great many things. She wanted to see Kidanyr sometime, knowing the girl to be friends with Osro…

The thought trailed away as she sighed and rugged up for the lesson and moved her way out of the room, Dhanuth trotting happily behind her. Well, as obviously happy as Dhanuth ever showed. He was a little strange like that, his happiness was usually another’s example of calm. In fact, Dhanuth seemed to have only one emotion and that was stoic calm. Well, they would be flying today so she would see what this was like. With her leg mostly healed, things were looking a little better. At least she could limp her way around without a crutch… And limp she did. It was more pronounced than it had been previously but she could only hope it would heal.

As they approached their siblings, Dhanuth looked about furtively for the pink who had taken his fancy at the hatching but snapped his attention back to the Weyrlingmaster. As she spoke, he dropped his head to the ground and lay there watching and listening in silence. Fel was much the same, listening attentively to what was being said. He moved his own leg in an attempt to stop it from hurting, knowing that it was pain felt through his bond with Fel.

As soon as they were able, Fel started methodically putting the harness on Dhanuth, calmly ensuring everything was safe before she stood aside for J’en to look at. He gave them approval and Fel climbed onto her dragon. Dhanuth watched those of his siblings to take off and noted all they had done wrong and the things they had done right.
Ready?
Of course.

Dhanuth calmly took off, flapping his wings and gaining height steadily and gradually. He was as methodical as his rider had been, moving slowly but gracefully around the area. After a moment, they touched down, Dhanuth stumbling a little. It was not that he was tired but that he had felt the pain in Fel’s leg grow and had decided to touch down before it hurt her more.

[/blockquote]

Devath had hatched longing for the day when she would carry Ni'on on her back, when they would sail into the sky with him, so Pandemoniuth's announcement made her eyes swirl with excitement, and she went to nose her tall rider out of bed. Get up, Ni'on,[/i] she crooned. Today, we soar![/i]

Well, there were much worse ways to waken than by the delighted mental image of the two of them launching into the sky together, and Ni'on grinned as he levered himself out of bed and hurried to dress. At last, she was officially large enough and strong enough to carry his lanky frame, and it was going to be a good day.

Though he hadn't previously met either of the new weyrlingmasters, he listened attentively to Tasakhori's speech. Well, mostly attentively; he was still Ni'on, and his eyes still wandered off as he daydreamed. Fortunately, Devath was there to pick up the slack, and if between the two of them they managed to miss anything important, well...they'd figure it out, right?

Admittedly, they were along the last to get airborne, because Devath busied herself crooning encouragement to the other dragons, and Ni'on messed up the straps a few times, and double-checked before he allowed J'en to give final approval. We'll need to get better at that,[/i] he told her ruefully. Faster, and not accidentally letting the straps get all twisted and mangled.

However, it was fairly easy for him to mount, tall as he was, and Devath's graceful cyan form launched easily into the air, with barely a jolt; it was the sensation of flying, not any fault in her, that took Ni'on's breath away. Okay, they weren't exactly above all of Pern looking down at it, but they still flew, together; he still felt her wings beat the air, and his body responded instinctively whenever she turned, leaning the appropriate way.

Landing was tougher, and she stumbled a bit, but the straps held fast, and she managed to bear up. She was laughing in his head, and Ni'on laughed too, the chuckle visible on the frosty air. "You're brilliant," he said, stroking her neck.

We are brilliant,[/i] she affirmed.

---

Get up, get up! Pandy and Tasa are here! They're here to teach us how to fly![/i]

By now Delilah was well-accustomed to being woken by her pink's enthusiasm, and she gave Agnith a scratch along her neck the way she liked it before hurrying to dress - warmly, as suggested. Manned flights. That would hopefully not be a problem; she was small, and Agnith was strong, and had done well so far in unmanned flights. The way the straps laid against her hide might throw her off a bit, though, but Delilah had faith in her dragon, and Agnith in her.

The bulk of her winter clothing protected her from the chill, and she focused firmly on what Tasakhori said, ensuring that Agnith listened when the older dragons spoke. It ought to be simple enough, really. Straps, mount, glide, land, done.

Agnith stood quite still during the strapping part, lifting her paws and shifting her wings when requested, mostly engaged in chattering to the dragonets around her about how thrilling and awesome and, uh, awesome again flying was. Delilah's harnesswork was excellent, if perhaps a bit slower than some others, because she was too short to move quickly, and soon enough she clambered up into her seat and attached the straps, checking that her helmet and goggles were settled properly.

"All right," she said. "Here we go. For goodness's sake, please just don't crash into anyone." She wouldn't be all that upset if her young dragon couldn't fly perfectly, but fouling another's wings would be mortifying.

But despite an exuberant takeoff that almost gave Delilah whiplash, Agnith flew steady and strong, resisting the urge to cant closer to her friends. In fact, they probably would have flown farther and longer, except that after a bit, her neck whipped around. Oh! B'an and Wujith are in trouble![/i]

Land,[/i] Delilah said firmly. She was a healer, and they had done well enough; anything further would be showing off at the expense of their fellow weyrling. She didn't dare simply fly back to the site of the accident, as Agnith's landings were untried, and the last thing she wanted was to skid right into the ailing pair.

If left to her own devices, Agnith probably would have done a worse job, but Delilah's absolute focus assisted her to land graceful and feline-like, and Delilah started to fumble for her straps; but the pink just turned around and started to trot back toward the blackweyrling. Oh. That was probably faster than Delilah dropping to the ground now, and she blushed a bit at her own silliness. Still not great at making in-the-moment decisions. They would arrive after the weyrlingmasters, she supposed, but at least she could see that B'an was still breathing. Well, of course he was; his dragon hadn't betweened.

Up before dawn, as was his habit, L’kie looked up at the voice of a dragon, correctly assuming it to be one bonded to one of the Weyrlingmasters, though he wasn’t quite sure he recognized the voice. Flight lesson, the first flight lesson! It wasn’t visible in his body language, but a thread of excitement tightened in his belly, all too easily read in his mind by his Oferrath. It’s time! We get to fly! I get to fly, and with my L’kie.

“Yes, yes we do.” Quickly, he gathered up the riding straps he’d been meticulously going over and over in the last sevenday, knowing this lesson was coming and wanting to be prepared. He geared up while Oferrath waited with as much patience as he could, sliding on his warm wherhide jacket and hanging gloves and goggles from his belt for the time being. “I’m ready, let’s go.” He did snag his kit before he left his room, though – not much he could do if there was a serious problem, but it did to never go anywhere without it.

Once assembled with the rest of the Tideturners, after the demonstration by the replacement Weyrlingmaster (and didn’t that explain why he didn’t recognize her dragon’s voice!) L’kie started buckling on Oferrath’s riding straps, the blue adding commentary and shifting to make sure he was comfortable in them. The blue grumbled a bit when J’en told them to tighten up a side strap, complaining of it pinching, but a bit of leather wrapped around the buckle soothed him, at least until they could do something a little more permanent about it.

Once they got the all clear, L’kie climbed up Oferrath’s side, buckling himself down and then watching his fellow weyrlings take to the air for the first time with their partners. They’re all doing so well! But even his optimism was strained by that first crash, L’kie wincing visibly in sympathy and Oferrath ducking his head in shared discomfort. I promise not to break you on accident, my L’kie.

“I appreciate that, Oferrath. Now let’s go.” Without hesitation, Oferrath crouched down and spread his wings, springing aloft in the next instant with powerful beats of his wings. L’kie jerked forward, and would have banged his head on the neck ridge in front of him if he hadn’t braced himself, expecting the sudden acceleration. They quickly rose, reaching level with the rim of the bowl, and started in a big circle around the lake. Oferrath bugled in excitement as they started into their second circuit – L’kie was, for his part, too busy gauging his dragon’s energy levels to really, really enjoy his first flight, but he did take time to admire the view from on high.

Oferrath wasn’t up to a third circuit, and gracefully acknowledged this as he started to glide back towards the rest of the weyrlings. Their landing was looking good…until Oferrath realized he was going to overshoot his planned landing sight and backwinged harder than he should have. They hit the ground and the blue’s front legs slid out from under him, leaving Oferrath sprawled on his belly in the dirt. I wasn’t planning that.

“It’s fine,” L’kie told him, patting his neck as his dragon regained his feet and a little of his dignity, “It wasn’t terrible for a first try.”

* * *

Flight lessons – the moment they’d all been waiting for. Valha, with Mith following behind, the end of the tan’s nose in the small of Valha’s back, and the fair of flits perched on various spots on one or the other of them, joined the class and listened to the instructions they were issued. They had actually been doing a fitting of Mith’s riding straps when the call came in, having been assisted by a random interested dragonrider, so Valha had at least a little confidence in them – she was rewarded when J’en gave her approval after looking them over, though she’d had to soothe Mith to get her to hold still long enough for him to look.

The tan was rather high-strung at the moment – too many people and she didn’t understand why she had to be around so many people. They were so small! She was pretty sure that they’d all gotten smaller just to make her more uncomfortable – small things were easy to break on accident! Like tables! She made a quiet, high-pitched sound of distress, quieting only when Valha rubbed her snout and plunked Hati down between her eyes.

Hati managed to distract her long enough for Valha to climb into the riding straps and get herself secured. “Mith.”

Mith turned, looking for her rider, and then craned around far enough to realize that her Valha was on her. Riding on her. This absolutely blew Mith’s mind as the tan struggled with the concept for a few moments – moments Valha spent watching her fellow weyrlings take to the air while Mith slowly, slowly processed this new development.

And then Skadi landed on Valha – everything clicked into place for Mith and she, uncharacteristically, bugled in excitement. My Valha is riding me! Like Hati! My Valha is keeping me safe now! This was the best day ever! She looked around to tell herself all about this newest development – only…

Valha carefully kept her emotion in check as Mith shifted in place, watching Unath’s maiden flight with her rider. She could feel the gears turning in Mith’s head once again as Mith slowly turned to look at her own wings, dimly remembering the swimming she’d been doing. Her wings where strong, and the muscles that powered them were even stronger. Herself was now landing – and another dragon was lifting off. She spread her wings a little, her jaw dropping open a little as she watched yet another of her siblings take to the air.

Valha knew now was the time, “UP!” All four of her flits lifted off, streaking into the air, and without thought or planning or hesitation, Mith effortlessly followed them. They were above the lake in a heartbeat, Mith looking down and squawking in alarm, almost stilling her wings in surprise until Valha swatted her, “Fly, Mith! Keep flying!”

FLYING! She was flying like Hati and Skadi and Fenis and Skol! She was flying with her Valha! She felt…powerful in the air – now that she was up she realized that this, this was something that she could do. Her body instinctively knew what to do in the air, making minute adjustments in response to changes in the wind without her having to figure out how to do it. She banked around the Weyrbowl still following the fair, who had to race to keep ahead of her now, popping forward a dragonlength at a time to keep in the lead.

Finally after a few laps around the Weyr, Mith began to tire. She locked her wings instinctively and, at Valha’s urging, angled downward into a wide spiral that would bring her to the ground. At the last instant, Mith realized she didn’t know what to do to get back on the ground and faltered in the air – so as she’d been trained to do, she reached out to Hati.

It was a weird moment – Valha in the middle as Hati more or less was invited into Mith’s mind to help them with the landing. Hati, for her part, quickly assessed the needs of her BigPet – landing was tricky, and her BigPet was very large, making it trickier. Hati was good at landing though, and nudged into the forefront of Mith’s mind and quite firmly landed the big tan with astonishing grace, considering the size difference the little firelizard was compensating for.

Mith folded her wings and settled, completely at peace with herself and the world for once in the wake of her flight, still feeling the weight of her rider on her neck. All was well. Valha was just trying to make that whole stunt at the end looked totally planned, but she made sure that Hati got the best scritches when the quartet came in to land around her. She was absolutely getting the green a whole wedge of cheese for this.