A Bloody Mess- Lesson 1 (Green Wherlings)

[kia]

As the sun was starting to set, Risk was starting to wake up. She sat up and nuzzled her Mine, rumbling lowly to wake him up. Mine, wake. Lessons tonight, she said. Ridan gave a low moan and turned over to sleep a little more, muttering someone`s name in his sleep. Risk huffed and decided to do something she rarely did. She moved closer to Ridan and licked his back, pushing the man off his bed. Her eyes whirled in amusement as she watched her Mine fall onto the cold floor. That would teach him to sleep and ignore him when she spoke to him, but he was tired. He was still recovering from helping her with her Clutch, but these were her children! They needed to be taught and told how to act like real Whers. Ridan needed to teach the new Wherlings how to behave like Handlers, especially that Kio and Talouse. She was still mad at Talouse for being late, but she would forgive eventually. As for Kio, the boy needed to be put in his place.

Ridan was lucky that his bed was on the floor rather than off the ground like DragonRider`s beds. He felt cold ground and his eyes opened. The room was pitch black except for the small crack of moonlight trying to peek in under his door. He heard Risk rumbled and he quickly stood up to face Risk. “Okay, okay. I`m up. Let me get dressed,” he said, cracking his door to allow the moonlight in to see. As usual, Ridan had slept naked and needed a few moments to dress. He enjoyed the feeling, something he had gotten use to from his past. He reached over next the bed and grabbed his pants and tunic, putting them on in order. Once he was done, he and Risk headed out into the night time air, letting the cool air refresh them. Ridan was wide awake now and ready for lessons.

They walked down the alley to the Wherling Barracks, stopping in front the opening of the Barracks. Ridan nodded to Risk when they had stopped. Risk stretched her neck out, her nose touching the door. Whers, wake. Lessons now. Bring your Mines, the Gold told the young Whers, her voice holding command. Hurry, or I drag all out. Now! Not good I mad! she added, her voice carrying a serious tone behind it. Ridan chuckled slightly and shook his head. Risk could not be mad at her children, especially right now. It would be the Wherlings who got the blunt of the blow. It would be a while before Risk would start becoming annoyed with the little Whers once they were getting older and understanding there place in the Weyr.

Ridan and Risk waited until all the Wherlings appeared. Ridan smiled at his Wherling group, but he knew these lessons were important. He could not afford to be easy right now. They needed to learn how to do things correctly. If a Wherling could not behave like a proper Handler, then they would not be able to get ahead in life. He wanted all his Wherlings to succeed. He cared about them, even the hard-headed Kio. He cleared his throat as he began to look at the all, looking at Kio and Kiosk first and then moving to Bri and Brisk. “I am Alpha Handler Ridan, but I know you know that. I will also be your teacher and WherMaster. During lessons, you must respect me as your teacher. As a Handler, you must respect me as the Alpha Handler. As a Gold, Risk will demand respect most of the time. But, we are also not above being friends with other Handlers, such as yourselves.

“For your first lesson, you will all need to follow me. You may need to carry your Whers since they are still young and small and may fall behind. They cannot keep up with our steps yet. By the time they reach a few months of age, they will be able to keep up. For now, carry them, please. And please keep up,” Ridan said, turning on his heels and heading away from the Wherling Barracks. Risk followed behind Ridan, holding herself with usual pride. Her Mine had spoken correctly. She demanded respect at all times. Just because she was acting like a teacher right now did not mean she would relax her position. She may be Sr. Wher here at Dalibor by chance, but she proved that she was worth the position every night when she stalked through these alleys, making sure everything is safe all was protected. But, inside, she thought this might be fun, teaching the little Whers how to be strong and a Wher full of pride.

Ridan brought the Wherlings to where the animals were kept. He opened the gate and looked at Risk. “Risk, if you will?” The Gold gave a satisfied rumbled and leaped into the pen, going after several choices of animals. It took her a few minutes, displaying the grace of a Wher as she took down one creature after the other, bringing them to Ridan and then going after another one. As Risk would bring the dead creatures to him, he would pull some knives out of a bag he brought and put them next to the animals. After a few moments, Risk returned with the last dead creature. She dropped the animal in front of Talouse and Task and returned to her spot next to Ridan. Ridan looked at Talouse and Task, his eyes moving to Wrynri and Wrynsk, and finally to Durene and Dusk.

“First things first,” Ridan spoke up again, his eyes now moving over to Rethalt and Resk to Baharl and Bask, and over to Frino and Frisk. “You will learn, if you haven`t already, that Whers are night creatures. So, you will need to get use to this schedule. As a Wherling, you will need to get up every night right now to come down here and fill that bucket,” and he pointed to a bucket in the corner, “with meat. Your Whers will be hungry a lot. They will sleep a lot. All day and part of the night. As they gets older, they will become more active during the night, learn to hunt on their own, and will get too big to carry. Your bond will also grown and you may have to reassure that bond occasionally with praises and feelings of love.” He meant this with truth, his eyes glancing over Obelir and Obelisk, Lenir and Lesk, and lastly Asterin and Asterisk.

Ridan reached behind his back and pulled out a knife. He reached over to one of the carcasses and cut off a small piece of meat, throwing it to Risk who quickly ate it. “First lesson. You will need to get meat for your Whers. Avoid fur, bones, and fat for now. The Whers need actual meat now. They may not eat anything but the meat until they can hunt on their own. When they are able to hunt, then the Whers may eat any part of the animal that he or she desires. When your Wher is done eating, they may fall asleep since they are still young. If they do, bring them with you as we continue your lessons. Try to keep them awake, too. Keeping them awake more at night will help them sleep more during the day. If your Whers ever has a question, Risk will be glad to help answer them. The same goes with me. If you have any questions for me, please feel free to ask me.”

[zeis]

Baharl had staggered into her room the night previous, with a food heavy and comatose Bask in her arms. She had trudged over to her bed, cradling the Iron close, and laid down without even removing her boots or tending to the cut on her arm from Impressing. Her arrival had woken up and slightly irritated Spiral, who having grown used to it would have been content to simply roll over and sleep, but the sight of the Iron Wheret had caught his attention. So as His and the strange new member of their shared life cuddled down into the fur bedding, he stealthily disentangled himself, and crawled closer to examine the strange creature. The little Purple had seen dragons before, but not Whers, though His had supplied him with a mental image one one. The flitter poked and prodded curiously at Bask, who in response to these annoyances snored and twitched in his sleep. Spiral soon grew bored with the creature, at least now that it was asleep, and carefully crawled atop both the Wher and Baharl, nestling down to sleep atop both of them. And so they slept, a very tired and loud snoring family.

Bask, who was indeed enjoying his first ever nights sleep on a full stomach just as Baharl predicted, awoke with a confused start at Risk's voice. His simple blissful dream of having a nice fully belly was replaced by a ravenous hunger. He was so hungry, and lessons were starting! Both were very important, and he was not one to forgo a duty expected of him. The little Iron tried to get up, but found himself slightly pinned down by Baharl's limp sleeping arms, and... a small dozing purple creature? He spared it only a glance, and began wiggling about furiously, trying to dislodge himself and wake up Baharl at the same time.

It was Spiral who woke up first with an indignant squawk, only to receive a stern look from Bask, that sent him quickly fluttering to the chest at the foot of the bed where he watched anxiously. Freed from that weight, the Iron Wheret pulled himself free from his drowsy handler, and propped himself up on her legs with his front paws, bouncing up and down slightly. He may be fond of her, but he wasn't about to let her shirk her duties either. Wake! Wake! Risk lessons. Bask hungry.

Baharl groaned slightly as she was jarred from her sleep, and peered sleepily at the young Wher. Lessons today... She remembered Ridan saying something about that. Plus the little fellow was hungry, and well... so was she. The girl eased her legs out from under Bask, and swung them over the side of her bed with a cavernous yawn. She scratched her back, and eyed him with a smile. "Let's not keep them waiting, eh?" Bask nodded in agreement, and waited patiently while His briskly exchanged her clothes with fresh ones, and exchanged a brief but affectionate farewell to Spiral. He butted at her legs to get her moving out the door, and she called back to the little purple with a laugh. "I'll bring you breakfast!"

~~~~~

Soon they were all assembled outside, listening to Ridan's introduction, if repeated, and instructions. She listened intently, and upon being told to do so, swept Bask up in her arms with a small grin. Looks like the little fellow wouldn't need to suffer the embarrassment of asking to be held anymore, because his pampering was a direct order, not that she objected. Catching onto her thoughts, Bask sniffed dismissively, though he privately did enjoy being held. She followed the Gold-handler and the other Wherlings to the animal pens, not speaking but shooting the few she had spoken with the night before friendly and well wishing winks. Today was the first day of the rest of their lives after all!

Bask's squirmed a little in her arms in hunger when they reached the animal pens, and Baharl suppressed a smirk. She couldn't blame him, because she was just as eager for breakfast as he was. A nice juicy herd-beast steak, and some wherry eggs sounded divine. Granted, the living thing didn't look as appetizing to her. She watched with interest as Risk felled each bovine and dragged it back, and caught a mixture of eager fascination from Bask. Soon enough, she supposed, he'd be big enough to pull off feats like that, and he'd probably be eating much more than a bucketful of meat by then too. His voice drifted to her with unashamed greed, making her grin. Entire herd-beast.

When Ridan set them to their task, she gently set Bask down on his feet, and went about it with a mildly experienced and willing hand. She had been raised in High Reaches Weyr after all, and her father had sometimes tasked her with the feeding of Khosk. She may not have been the greatest butcher, but she didn't shy away from the raw flesh and took her time to get the job done right. Soon the messy efforts were rewarded with a steaming bucket of meat, which she presented to Bask with a sigh of mock relief. She sat back on her haunches as she watched him eat the roughly diced hunks of meat, and forgetting the state of her hands pushed a stray matted lock of hair out of face, unknowingly smearing her forehead with blood. "How did I do?"

Good. Baharlmine good. Bask replied enthusiastically as he set about his breakfast with gusto, devouring it down to the last bit of flesh in the bloody dregs of the bucket. Baharl laughed as he promptly knocked the bucket on its side, and lapped up the still warm blood. She may not be much of an actual cook when it came to food, but at least there was someone licking his plate clean so to speak. She grinned down at him, and roughly scratched the now sluggishly full but still awake Iron, who leaned into her affections happily.

[Admin]

We cut the legs off of our pants,
Threw our shoes into the ocean,
Sit back and wave through the daylight,
Sit back and wave through the daylight.

Brisk stirred at Risk's call, rising leisurely and daintily stretching. She turned to find her handler already awake. Bri was in the middle of dressing. Once she finished, she smiled at Brisk and headed outside, walking slowly to allow the dainty Brisk to keep up. She'd moved Soc to the kennels, keeping him away from her hatchling green. Outside, they met up with Obelir and Obelisk, who had both been quick to rise. After all, they couldn't be late. Bri grinned at Obelir like a very large feline. Brisk offered a happy croon. In reply, Obelisk looked around for Dusk and Obelir slowly shuffled off to move closer to where Ridan and Risk were waiting for them. Brisk turned her head to glower at her handler, put off by Obelisk's lack of manners. The wherling looked quite pleased with herself and what she'd done. She wasn't letting her bonded slow her down in the slightest.

When Ridan looked at her when he started speaking, Bri grinned. However, she did actually pay quite good attention, scratching Brisk to placate the green, who didn't understand exactly what was going on because she didn't know what lessons were. A little ways off, Obelir and Obelisk were both playing close attention, absorbing all of the information like good, attentive students. They hardly even paid attention to who Ridan was looking at as he spoke. So focused, they immediately moved when the goldhandler started to do so. However, they had to halt so that Obelir could pick up Obelisk to carry him. The blue wiggled in the boy's hold until he was comfortable, and then they followed Ridan and an already swiftly moving Bri and Brisk. The girl listened halfheartedly to Ridan's instructions for the lesson. She preferred watching Risk's display.

Obelir and Bri became a matching set when it came to executing the lesson to feed their starving whers, though each had little quirks that made their motions their own. While their heritages were different, they both knew what they were doing. Obelir was wherborn and wherbred. He'd grown up under the care of his mother's proud brown. Bri was whertaught and wherdetermined. She could handle preparing meat for her bonded; the blood didn't bother her in the slightest. Both swiftly filled up a bucket with appropriate pieces of meat. Bri showed a preference for upper layers of meat on the shoulder. Obelir preferred the lower leg meat. Once their buckets were filled, they set them in front of their whers. Brisk set about hers with appropriate daintiness. Obelisk ate with gusto. All of them were off in their own world, silent for the dusk, their new dawn.

And with just half of a sunburn,
New yellow lines that I earned,
Step back and here comes the night time,
Step back and here comes the night time.

[hatori3070]

Talouse and Task were sprawled over her bed, snoring contentedly when Risk called. Task's little black head poked up out of the blankets in a flash, already wide awake and ready for fun. TalouseMine! Wake! Risk calls! He said and pounced on her back to further wake her up. The sun had set! It was time to do things, learn things, and have fun! He poked his nose in her ear, snuffling loudly as he poked and prodded her to get up.

In a flash Talouse whipped the blanket over on top of her playful little black with a laugh. "Give a body a chance stinker!" She cried affectionately and left her bed while he tried to disentangle himself. Her clothes were wrinkled from flopping into bed as soon as they arrived at her room the night before, so she hurriedly gathered a new shirt and breeches and ran a brush through her hair. It was important that she, of all people, was not late tonight. She knew that Risk would remember her lateness to the hatching and watch her for any slip-up in these first few lessons.

"Come on you!" She called to Task as she opened the door. He scrambled from the bed and raced out the door, moving as fast as his uncoordinated new legs could carry him, meaning Talouse moved at a gentle trot beside him with a smile on her face. They were only the third to arrive, much improved from the night before. Talouse grinned at Bri, her former roommate, and then paid attention to what Ridan was saying. Her instruction as a child had centered on dragons, so most of this was new to her.

Task was glad to hear that His had to carry him. He was tired from running out there. He glanced over at Brisk and waved his tail. He hadn't met her last night! Oh fun, someone knew that he could meet! His stomach growling distracted him though and he looked up at His, begging silently for her to pick him up.

Which she did with a grin for her wher and followed the group over to the animal pens. Task looked over her arms as his mother felled several beasts, envious of her strength. He knew that one day he would be able to do that too, but it would take so long to get there! For now he would have to wait for His to give him meat. Talouse set him down and picked up one of the knives, setting at her task with no squeamishness, but little skill. It took her longer than Bri and Obelir to cut up the meat. It didn't bother her though. She knew that it would take practice to be able to dice it up so efficiently, and it wasn't as if Task would go hungry. She still managed to fill her bucket in a decent amount of time.

Meat! Task jumped to the bucket and knocked it over in his haste to get at the food, spilling some of it onto the ground. He didn't care though, he ate his meat from the ground while Talouse watched him with that ever-present grin on her face.