Controlling the Mindlink

These lessons will consist of teaching you the theory of controlling how much you share, and how to keep certain things private. Also, they'll help you know how to tell the difference between what you are feeling and what your dragon is feeling. The first few days it will be hard to tell which one of you is hungry or sleepy. You will start practicing these lessons on your dragons immediately. They will also help you learn to control your dragons. Some of you will need this more than others.

Each bond is unique. Every rider and dragon pair have their own way of dealing with the bond between them. Some riders and dragons leave the link almost completely open all the time, others are content to know the other is there and keep it mostly closed except for certain times. Most range somewhere in the middle.

Every dragon has their own personality - just like every human - and this means that every relationship is different. Some get along all the time, from the beginning. Others are perfect for each other because they don't get a long all the time. After all, sometimes a person grows the most when they are pushed and stretched beyond where they thought they could be. A lot of this month is starting to figure this relationship out. It is a life-long process, but the first month of weyrlinghood is designed to give you both the time you need to learn enough about each other to have a functioning relationship when the real training starts.

The other side of this lesson is that you will never be alone again. There is now this thing in your life that is totally dependent on you, and you are totally dependent on it. If you die, it dies too. If it dies, you will too - or you will wish you had. If a rider is unfortunate enough to live through their dragon's death, it is like having half of their sub- and fully- conscious self ripped out of their minds. For the rest of their life they will be only half alive, and mostly insane.