[[Logged by Ali]]
Northeastern Bowl
The northeastern arc of the Weyr Bowl seems somewhat isolated from the rest of the weyr - with necessity, for this is the training grounds for young riders and dragons, the Weyrlings. The main entrance to the weyrling barracks is just north of here, and the ground there is well-trampled and firm, as if many feet, both human and dragon, have wandered over it dozens of times a day. Further up in the northwest corner of the bowl is the waterfall, tumbling out of the Weyr face several dragonlengths above, misting the area in a rainbow glow. On the south side of the bowl lie the ashpits and firestone supplies for the entire Weyr.
Char stands in the at ease position, waiting for all of the weyrlings to emerge from the barracks. Noting the last one finally joining them, she straightens and quips a salute to the trio and then allows herself to relax. "Today, you will be learning formations on the ground. This is a very integral part of your education as a weyrling as you will need to know these backwards and forwards as a threadfighting member of the weyr."
Ali moves quickly out of the barracks, glancing over her shoulder to be sure that Uillauth is following, and pauses just long enough to give Char a salute before continuing her pace to join the others.
Zi'n emerges indeed, even if he's halfway pushed out by a bronzen head. Pausing only long enough to give Char a proper greeting, the bronzeling then squeals softly as a certain dragon persistently shoves at his back. "Alright, alright, I'll hurry!"
Char pats her lifemate on the side of the neck and Aztereth rises, offering a leg up for the rider. With a gesture that supposedly means 'mount up,' coupled with a verbal command, she mounts. "All right, weyrlings, mount up! You will best learn these formations in action. Hopefully some of you have some idea of the concept."
Ali follows orders as quickly as possible, clambering up to settle into place, and quickly fastening the riding straps.
Orbyth is more than willing to offer his 'rider a leg up, dragon breath coming out in small huffs of excited air. "Orbyth, don't twitch like that," Zi'n scolds gently, struggling to fasten his straps. "Stand still, or I'll fall off you!" It works, it seems, since bronzen feet pause long enough to allow him to strap up. There.
Uillauth makes his way out, pausing but a moment before dipping to help Ali up. He straightens then, chiseled head turning first to whuff gently at his rider, then to Char, all attention focused there. Thread…bah. But, we must learn.
From Aztereth's neck, Char shouts from 'twixt her lifemate's ridges, enjoying the vantage of a dragon much larger than the weyrlings. "All right. I will remain out of these formations so that I can watch. Aztereth will relay to your lifemates an image of what I want, if you cannot figure it out on your own." She waits for them to finish mounting and then gestures. "I want a line formation. Zi'n in front, then Ali, then Inya. Move now."
Ali pats Uillauth affectionately as they prepare to learn the formations, her head tilting ever so slightly to the side as she listens to Char's instructions and then relays the information on to Uillauth for him to follow.
From Orbyth's neck, Zi'n strokes the eagerly strained neck of his lifemate, mumbling a few words of reassurance as the bronze is apparently ready to take off right now and then. Eep. "Font? Yes, ma'am," 'ling quickly blurts out, managing to convince Orbyth that moving to stnad in front would be a good idea.
From Aztereth's neck, Char notes the tardy pair and gestures to the back of the formation in creation. "Line formation, Mhairie. You will take the rear, since the pair of you are so late. Hurry up and mount and get into place."
Mhairie eyes's Char a moment, well at least she's not screaming this time. MOunting up she moves Fiviath into place, a little smile on her face.
From Aztereth's neck, Char waits for the lot of them to get into line as she expects and then informs them. "The line formation is used mostly to get a group of dragons and their riders from place to place. It is the safest and most uniform way in which to do this. In threadfall, we might use a set of three lines to combat the spores." She nods, satisfied with what she sees and then orders, "Okay. Now I want you to get into the other version of a line formation… You can do so by rotating in a clockwise manner. Zi'n will be on the far right and Mhairie on the far left, with Ali and Inya between." Aztereth relays the image to the dragons.
Uillauth trundles into place behind Zi'n and Orbyth, wings held up so as to not trail along the ground. Head once again turns to watch Char, canted slightly to the side. Something new is always…new. And With that, he once again starts to move, intent on forming the line as specified by Aztereth.
From Orbyth's neck, Zi'n nods, his expression concentrated, as Orbyth scurries to the right, craning his head around to watch Uillauth carefully - wouldn't want to collide right here in the bowl, after all. Eyes roll excitedly, and it's all that the 'ling can control his errant lifemate.
Fiviath takes but a moment to think about the image and boadly steps out, moving in the indicated manner to her asigned spot, much better then being behind someone. Her wings are held aloft, no need to look like some newly hatched dragon, all clumsy and without grace. Sailing into her spot she holds her head aloft, not as fun as flying maybe but…
Ali watches Char, a look of intense concentration on her face, eyes only slightly unfocusing as the instructions are passed on to her lifemate. A pleased smile tugs at the corners of this young rider's mouth as she finds that, so far, they can follow the directions and complete the manuevers as told.
Ali seems a little amused at the lesson, her thoughts filling with bright colors and sounds, bits of some unknown melody drifting in and out, as if a themesong from the moment. « I know this is easy, but we have to do it well if we want them to let us fly. »
From Aztereth's neck, Char waits for them to take up the next position and nods approval once again. "This formation is a bit more effective than the vertical, because a flight is able to cover much more area. Again, this one will usually be tripled in threadfall, either above and below or before and behind." She takes a deep breath, requesting for her lifemate to pass on the next image as she speaks. "The next formation is called a vee formation. The wingleader would usually take the center position or the tip of one of the spokes, depending on which style of communication he or she prefers. In this case, we will make Ali the wingleader, so she should move forward into the central spot, with the others spanning out to either side of her. For instance, Zi'n to the right and slightly behind and Inya to the left and slightly behind."
From Orbyth's neck, Zi'n ignores Orbyth's dissatisfied rumbling of suddenly being /behind/ Uillauth and gently prods his 'mate into place behind the brown, patting bronzen hide affectionately. "Yes, I'm sure it's because you look better like this," 'ling mumbles, biting his lip to prevent a giggle from escaping through gritted teeth.
Uillauth focuses a moment before stepping out, far enough that the others can fall into formation behind him. A slight rustling of wings accompanies the shift, that is until the brown turns to look behind him. One must always be sure that the others have followed, for it wouldn't be good to go off on one's own. After all…the formation is only as strong as its weakest member.
Fiviath is completely disatisfied with the arrangement, the front spot shoulf be hers, really. Mhairie coaxes her forward though "Come one you don't wanna stay grounded right?" she asks the reluctant green. "This is just a class, you'll have yourt chance later." she adds as they take a position near the back "Sides, you could get what the others miss" she adds with a chuckle.
Ali uses her peripheral vision to watch as the other dragons move just behind she and Uillauth, careful not to move her head to look one way or the other, but, rather, keeping everything in sight all at once. A reassuring nod of her head shows the weyrling is communicating, once again, with her 'mate. Ali is pleased, every thought slipping through her mind shows this. « I know she just chose us to front because of where we were in line, but it feels good to be chosen, doesn't it? » Her train of thought alters a bit, sharing a little idea she has « I might be a good idea to try to watch the others *without* turning your head, love. Will be safer that way in flight. »
From Aztereth's neck, Char takes a deep breath and then begins her next spiel. "This is the most widely used formation. It covers the most amount of terrain and can be modified in any manner according to the pattern of threadfall. Like the others, it can be stacked. There is another version of this formation, called the inverted vee. In order to take up this formation, I will ask Zi'n to move back and the others to move forwards, to create a perfect mirror of what we already have."
From Orbyth's neck, Zi'n can't help but grin as the voice in his head suddenly changes grom complaining whines to schreeching exclamations of succes. "Knew you'd like that," mumbles the 'ling, chuckling as Orbyth shuffles to stand in the back, tail whiplashing up dirt as green-swirling eyes carefully watch the other beasts.
From Fiviath's neck, Mhairie laughs as Fiviath moves forward to take the lead, or partial lead since there is two this time. Shaking her head a bit at Fivi she laughs "See, there's advantages to taking the rear at times luv" she notes as Fiviath holds her head high.
From Aztereth's neck, Char watches as Zi'n moves from the side to take the apex of the formation and frowns, realizing that she'd named the wrong weyrling. Is she getting senile in her old age? « But you're not old. » She frowns as the formation is thrown into utter chaos by her simple mistake. "If the lot of you can't figure out how to fix a formation, how can you possibly expect to fly thread!" she scolds and then gestures. "Ali, you and Uillauth should move to the right of Zi'n, now that he has taken the central position, so that you will be in front and to the right of him."
Uillauth blinks once, then moves into position to the right of Orbyth, straightening his head so he's looking -forward-. Right. Must watch out for that intolerable nuisance…Thread, that is. Not th'other…no, mustn't think that now. So now, instead of turning whole head to watch, the brown merely…observes in a more…dignified manner.
From Fiviath's neck, Mhairie blinks herself, well for once she got something right and is not the one getting yelled at? Fiviath turns her head just a bit to glance at Mhairie with the smugest of expressions "Just watch it young lady, I'll make sure you don't get any fish for a sevenday, just stringy old herdbeasts."
From Orbyth's neck, Zi'n ducks his head slightly, even though his name wasn't the root of the scolding. Eep. Scolding. Whine. Orbyth looks unaffected, though, just preening, as much as a dragon can preen anyway, in his /leader/ position in the back. Lookit me, I'm watching you and you can't see me. Nyah!
Ali's cheeks flush a soft pink, but she doesn't look away, determined to make up for that mistake, even if it wasn't *their* fault, by paying extra-close attention to everything that's going on around she and Uillauth.
From Aztereth's neck, Char frowns as she gets a comment from her lifemate, her gaze trailing towards the pair at the back. Her lips firming into thin line, her voice lashes out across the air between them. "A leader might take up any number of positions in this formation, depending on how the wingleader prefers to give commands. On a windy day, when he or she cannot be heard, the wingleader might take up the position where Fiviath stands, or where Uillauth is, so that he or she might use handsignals. If a wingleader prefers to relay things through his or her dragon, then he or she might take up any position. If he or she prefers to shout at his or her wing, he or she will take the position where Zi'n and his dragon are. /None/ of these are definite leadership position and I'll have you keep that in mind."
From Orbyth's neck, Zi'n blushes crimson on behalf of his lifemate - powerhungry dragons. Eesh! "Of course, ma'am," comes the muttered comment, 'ling suddenly finding his straps very interesting to watch. Eep. Scolding. "Orbyth!" The hiss comes right after the dark rumble from said bronze, his head tilting to give Aztereth a dismayed glare. So what if it's an older dragon? Oh, alright, then….
Ali nods her head to show that she understands, her gaze fixed on Char as she listens, and awaits the next set of instructions. Despite the apparent confusion coming from her fellow weyrling, she doesn't look away, not going to let herself, or her dragon, be easily distracted.
Uillauth doesn't puff up, doesn't change his stance much at all, in fact, whorling eyes still focused on the elder pair. They are right, of course, and chaos could easily happen, after all.
From Aztereth's neck, Char takes a deep breath and lets it out in a sigh. "From now on, I want all of you to study these positions and work on them together. Knowing these well might make the difference between whether you live or die."
Ali's small braid bounces up and down from the nape of her neck as she nods her head, still not daring enough to say anything. Her eyes close partially, as if committing the positions to memory, but keeping them open enough to see what's going on around her. No slacking on this weyrling's part. No siree.
From Aztereth's neck, Char waits for that to sink in and then offers. "You may all dismount now. If you have any questions, speak them now."
From Orbyth's neck, Zi'n bobs his head quickly, expression grave as he listens to Char's words. "I will… we will," he assures, stroking molten-bronze hide. Even the energetic lifemate of his seems to pay attention, his head-twitching and tail-lashing stopping for a brief moment. Very brief. "Thank you, ma'am," 'ling calls out to the 'lingmaster-assistant then, grinning a little more bright than before.
Uillauth's thoughts swirl slowly into focus, golden caramel melding with dark chocolate, respectful approval seeping into the young brown's tones. « Tell your rider her tactic was good…by throwing us into chaos, we will now remember how to bring about order. It is a good lesson. »
