====August 8th and 11th, 2013 (backdated)
====Sienna, Kyara, We'bey, Vashae, cameo by W'rin
====Kyara reveals the true state of things with the weyrlings to Sienna and W'rin. We'bey and Vashae come along with some not-so-innocent questions.

Who Sienna, Kyara, We'bey, Vashae, cameo by W'rin
What Kyara reveals the true state of things with the weyrlings to Sienna and W'rin. We'bey and Vashae come along with some not-so-innocent questions.
When There is 1 Turn, 6 months, and 3 days until the 12th Pass (backdated).
Where Weyrling Training Grounds, Igen Weyr

KyaraIcon.jpg


Weyrling Training Grounds
Here, a wide and spacious field, devoid of all but more of the glare of ubiquitous, fine white sand of Igen: not even a blade of grass dares lift its head against centuries of clumsy draconic antics. To one side, ever-present firestone bins are set, kept supplied by many a hand, while agenothree tanks line the curving angle just outside the barracks, primed and ready for use. Very often, a glimpse of classes in session or dragonets at play may be caught under the open sky under the watchful eye of diligent Weyrlingmasters and older dragons.


Once the mentor/mentee relationships were assigned, Sienna waddled her way toward the training grounds, Kehemath slinking along behind. Despite the green's exercise, she has put on a little weight during her rider's pregnancy, without all those super long sweeps and difficult drills. Still, she is lithe and moves forward at an easy trot, head low and tail outstretched behind her. Her forested mind casts out, searching for Liareth, though no words are offered just yet.

Note in hand, Kyara slips quickly away from the weyrlings' just-finished class, coming up alongside her lifemate and striding easily across the training grounds, a quiet smile tilting her mouth. The former Harper knew of the upcoming mentor pairings, uncertain of what or whom to expect but determined to make the absolute most of the new relationship. For Sienna to be one of her two mentors is sheer good fortune, in her mind. Lia informs her that Sienna's green is looking for her - another quiet one, like Vazirynath, her growing dragon says, slightly disconcerted; she likes words too much to be as quiet as them. Kyara chuckles, but soothes Liareth as she picks up her pace to meet Sienna across the way. "Good afternoon, Sienna," she greets, smile broadening as she salutes. "Got the note. I'm looking forward to working with you!"

Sienna returns the salute as she waddles to a stop with a wide smile. "I'm looking forward to working with you too! It's been too long since I was involved in Weyrling stuff, and I haven't gotten to see you at all. How are things going?" Kehemath pads forward and settles to a stop, extending her muzzle towards the young green for a sniff - not close enough to touch, but close enough to catch some whiffs of her scent.

Liareth stands before Kehemath and sniffs in turn, also keeping a bit of distance as she familiarizes herself with the older green. "I know; it's been quite a while, it seems like," Kyara observes, watching the exchange between dragons with fascination and voicing a "hello" to Kehemath before gesturing to some large stones stacked near the wall - a familiar sitting spot for the weyrlings at this point - and moving toward them herself. "Things are getting intense, with senior weyrlinghood getting made official pretty soon. I hope." That last is almost grumbled; Kyara doesn't think their graduation to senior will be denied, but wonders if the Reachians might deliberately try to delay it for some of them. "And Lia's developed an…interesting attribute I wanted to ask you about, actually." She offers her arm to Sienna as she sidles up to a sitting spot. There's a bit of shade here, at this time of day, making the spot even more pleasant for those inclined to use it.

Sienna takes Kyara's arm with a grateful smile as she walks alongside the weyrling towards that spot. "Are they being good to you?" she asks quietly, glancing briefly around. "You hope?" she presses, turning to watch the dragons for a moment. "Absolutely, go on ahead," she encourages. Kehemath whuffles softly and pads after their riders, keeping one eye on the younger green with a swish of her tail. Her thoughts open up more to Liareth curiously, forest echoing with soft sounds of life, and golden eyes peering out from the shadows. Curious, but restrained.

Liareth is easy in the swirl of steam between elegant columns, brushing comfortable heat across the forested mind before her - respectful, composed in the slight unrest elicited in peering eyes. « It is good to finally meet you, Kehemath, » she intones, soprano stately. « Mine speaks highly of yours. I look forward to learning from you. »

"Well…" Kyara's eyes rest on the two greens as she guides Sienna down to sit, perching on the rocks beside her. "I'll get to the first thing in the minute. Lia, though…it's not a bad thing, I'm pretty sure, but it's throwing me a little bit. She's started…admiring the male dragons. Being vocal about it to me, because that's just what she does, and while I've pointed out she's a little young for this sort of thing, she doesn't see the issue. 'Admiration is a just thing,' is her usual sort of response…" Rubbing her neck, she laughs a little. "Is this normal, for greens?"

Kehemath does not mind the heat, welcoming it and soaking it in. Her forested mind expands, giving just a hint of the vastness of this green's thoughts - a world contained within, ripe for exploring. Her mind-self shifts in the underbrush, amber eyes blinking before a small, canine-like creature steps out, coat shaggy and brown, ears perked and alert. « And I you, » she finally responds softly, voice drifting through the trees.

Sienna settles onto the rock, folding her hands and watching the dragons as she listens to Kyara. Then a little smile touches her lips. "It's normal for all the dragons around this age to start noticing. Not really knowing why just yet, but. It's like young teenagers. They start to realize there are differences between the genders and the colors, and start to get curious." Then she gives the young woman another glance. Waiting for the 'first thing', certainly.

Kyara hmmms thoughtfully for a moment, amused. It's a little interesting, thinking of Liareth in young teenager terms in this respect…but it certainly makes sense. "Good to know. I won't worry about it, then." Of course, it may take her a bit to get used to it, but oh well. "So…the other thing." She shifts uncomfortably; she's mentioned her perceptions about the weyrlingmasters to Sienna before, but it's gotten worse since then. Blatantly so. "K'ane coming onto the staff has been absolutely a fine thing. He's good to us," she begins, picking at a crevice in the stone with her boot distractedly for a second before shifting from the subject of the Igen bronzerider to that of the Reachians. "The others…" She looks the other greenrider square in the eyes, her own sparking subtly with a suppressed anger. "They're slighting us, Sienna," she states evenly, her voice subdued. "The women, the blues and greens… We're getting half as much attention as the male-ridden browns and bronzes. We're studying as hard as we can, discussing what we've been learning… I haven't been getting enough sleep, staying up to make sure I'm staying even with the ones they do pay attention to, and I'm sure I haven't been the only one. But we can't do what we're supposed to or get any better if we're not allowed to put those things into practice just as much as the others!" She throws up her hands a bit, shaking her head with a deep frown. "I'm not sure what else we're supposed to do."

Sienna frowns at that admission, watching the young greenrider for a long moment. "Half as much attention? Truly?" she asks, staring at the greens. "How? What do they do? Do they not do whole group instruction?" There's another frown as she stares fixedly at Liareth for a long moment. "What we're going to do," not supposed to, and she included herself in that 'we', "is talk to W'rin." Fidgeting briefly with the silver ring on her left ring finger, she nods firmly and then her eyes unfocus as she reaches to Kehemath.

Kehemath's forested thoughts stretch out for Valiuth’s, and then everything turns to darkness as her full focus shifts to words. « Mine thinks yours should hear what Liareth's just told her. They are in the training field. » And then an image appears, of Kyara and Sienna sitting on stones by the wall, resting in the shade and talking.

"Yes," Kyara replies firmly, casting a worried look at Liareth. "They'll start us out in PT, halfway through call the browns and bronzes aside, telling us we'll be next. A few hours later…they've conveniently forgotten us. They fly the browns and bronzes in drills twice as much as us. We're an observant bunch; we notice. And we don't know if we can get away with drilling on our own in off time. But we need to be integrated with the others, don't we?" Her eyes widen a fraction as Sienna mentions W'rin, but then…yes. This could be a good thing. She always figured it wouldn't do if W'rin ever found out they were questioning the weyrlingmasters, but for this… And if Sienna says it's the thing to do, it must be alright. "W'rin? When would we do that?" But then she sees that Sienna's talking to Kehemath, and has her answer.

Valiuth enters with a flooding darkness, the stinging smell of salt in the air comes before the heavy fall of booted feat against an old wooden vessel that creaks in protest against the waves that smash against it. As the light of the moon casts an eerie light through the ocean wee hour morning fog, the strangling tentacles of the malicious beast spiral forth from the blackened abyss in which the ship so perilously sails. The distant roll of thunder speaks, « The day is nigh in which we shall face the enemy! What say you, little warrior? »

Sienna's frown darkens and she shakes her head with a heavy sigh, muttering a soft curse under her breath. "Okay. This…why…hasn't anyone mentioned this before?" she asks, glancing at Kyara but also including others in that 'why' question. "Yes, W'rin. Someone in authority needs to know this. He'll know how to handle it from there." Pass the buck, right? Not like Sienna can go shout at anyone. "And now. I've asked him to come hear what you have to say."

And perhaps an even more pointed answer to Kyara's lingering thought question is the storming steps of Valiuth's rider as he enters the training grounds. Darkened circles, graying hair, all signs of the work load the man is carrying. Perhaps more telling is the bundle of charts not neatly put away but tucked up under his arm like he left a place of work to find his way to the training grounds. "Rider. Weyrling." He grunts heavily; presumably this isn't pleasure related so Sienna gets no more acknowledgement than any other rider. His eyes glide from one to the other. "What is it?" His brow quirks as he sets his jaw, on giant hand reaching up to paw at his beard.

Liareth is welcoming heat and enveloping steam above talking pools and the soft hiss of water on coals, wafting to keep Kehemath in her sphere of perception as she greets Valiuth, a glad croon uttered in her throat. « We shall be ready, » she answers warmly. Then, more stridently, « But we must be more prepared. Mine must tell yours why we are not, or justice will not be done. »

Coming sharply to her feet, Kyara snaps off a salute, taking a deep breath. "Wingleader W'rin. Good afternoon." Here goes! W'rin is the best person she's had to voice this to so far. Now standing at attentive rest, hands clasped at her back, she observes the weariness that marks the big man's face with sympathy schooled to seriousness, once more admiring him for what he's taken on. "To be to the point, those of us among the weyrlings who are blue and greenriders, as well as female brown riders, are being denied the training we need to be an effective element of our Weyr. The weyrlingmasters from High Reaches have made it clear that we aren't worth their time and have been giving the bronze and male brownriders at least twice as much training as us. We've been doing our best to keep up, but we haven't been allowed to put our studying into practice. None of us have been sure of what to do exactly, hoping the matter would be sorted…but it hasn't been, and we're coming up on senior weyrlinghood. I couldn't stay quiet about it anymore, so I expressed my concerns to my mentor," she indicates Sienna with an inclination of her head to the greenrider. "And now to you, sir. With all due respect, it needs to stop." Perhaps a bit more wordy than she meant…but there it is. Remaining in position, jaw clenched, she waits for W'rin's reaction.

Sienna pushes carefully to her feet to salute the Wingleader, with a respectful "Sir," offered as well. Remaining standing, Sienna listens to Kyara and nods, briefly reaching out to touch the young greenrider's arm if she's allowed. A gesture of support, of encouragement, before she looks at the Wingleader. There is concern in her eyes but only in her eyes, and she doesn't voice it. One more thing to add to his plate, right? She regrets it, and yet…who else could they go to?

W'rin's natural face is one of strict sternness and while he listens to the girl's complaint it stays coolly neutral, though if one were to know him the slow whitening of his knuckles as his fists are clenched, and the bulging of his tightening jaw muscle, may give way that beneath the stillness lurks a raging danger, though against whom has yet to be fully decided. Lids draw for a moment, centering thoughts, and he turns his gaze to Sienna, as nostrils flare, though full of seething anger his voice falls to a whispered shout, "This fucking conversation cannot be had here!" In the training grounds, are they serious? The weyrlingmaster, even if he is on loan, technically outranks even the giant man who turns to storm off. "They are from Reaches!" This is hissed, and while vague to the weyrling, may mean something to the greenrider. And with a growl at both of them he stamps heavily from the training grounds, rage boiling beneath the surface his fist slams against the heavy punching bag hung near the exit. Better than rock, and as his thoughts calm for a brief second he turns and gives Sienna a sharp nod. Time for business.

Valiuth's mind darkens the sky and takes a sickening green color as the blackest of clouds gather. The sea rages against the whaling vessel, even as the wood shatters beneath the leviathan's hold. Hopeless, all is for naught, but the men still stand, even against all odds those brave souls still battle against their deadly foe. « Stay strong, young child, whom the enemy has made an adult before her time. Do not disobey those who hold rank. The enemy would do well were we fractured, were our structure to crumble around us. But IT shall not WIN. Know, little Liareth, all will be taken care of. »

Lips pressing into a thin line, Kyara watches as W'rin thunders from the grounds, not flinching only because she understands (she thinks) that his anger isn't focused on her. Yes, she probably should've waited until they were elsewhere to voice the issue, but what's done is done. And now she drops from her formal stance, moving to follow the big man…but she glances at Sienna, eyes questioning. Where are they going? She waits a step; Sienna ranks her, so Kyara will follow her out, per protocol, but her arm is there, should Sienna need it. It's just going to end up a habit when Sienna's around, she thinks. And then Liareth is flanking her on the right, ready to follow as well, unless she's told otherwise.

Sienna watches all those signs from W'rin and she just nods, watching him go. Until, that is, Kyara makes a move to follow, and the greenrider blinks, automatically taking the Weyrling's arm. She assumed W'rin was storming off to do battle on his own (as he so often does!), but perhaps she misunderstood that. So she'll waddle after as well, unless, yes, they are told otherwise.

Valiuth has not followed his rider, his head snaking round to the waddling women, with a heavy huff he places himself in their path way. Best not to disrupt the man while he works, though as he settles to the ground, tail lashing in as much agitation, he at least seems like he will be staying to discuss the situation.

When W'rin's bronze descends to lie in their path, Kyara blinks in slight confusion until realizing why, just as Liareth relays that the big wingleader is off to handle things alone. "Oh." How obvious a sign does she need? Apparently a big bronze one, at least when she's caught up in the tension as she is. She doesn't even fully realize that's what's been going on within herself until she lets out a long breath. Smiling at Sienna sidelong, Kyara lets the woman's arm go, looking a bit sheepish as she turns to face her. "Sorry. I suppose he wouldn't need us to follow along. He probably does best alone with problems like this, I'm guessing?" A sigh, and she rubs her neck. "Thank you. For calling him out here so I could tell him that. I was running out of ideas about who I could talk to that high up without maybe stepping out of line."

Sienna looks both abashed and relieved when Valiuth stops them, giving the bronze a respectful nod before turning to Kyara. "No, he doesn't need us." And it's not harshly said; it's just fact. Fiddling with her ring again, Sienna shakes her head. "No need to apologize though. How would you know that? He'll take care of it. It's a good thing you're with the mentor riders though," she says, glancing around the training grounds, making sure they're alone in this vicinity. She still drops her voice. "We can train you, without having to change anything about the program. It'll be okay, I promise. And of course, you're welcome. I understand what you mean though. The ranks…are difficult to navigate for female riders. So I understand completely. But W'rin has never let me down. He'll figure something out."

"Of that, I have absolutely no doubt," Kyara comments, nodding earnestly. "It's incredible he's able to do what he does, handling two wings right now, making sure they're where they need to be…he looks so tired, but he never quits. Even if people think he's…well, you know." With a warm smirk, she adds, "I'm glad you and W'rin have each other, if I haven't said so before. You've always looked so happy, whenever I've happened to be around and he gets mentioned." Going back to the training comment, Kyara nods enthusiastically. "It'll be great to get more training in, however and whenever we can. Lia's restless with what we've been getting. All of us have, in our way." It'll be okay? She can believe it now, more than she could before, when the situation went unspoken except amongst the weyrlings themselves.

Sienna nods, but while she's smiling there is concern in her eyes. "He…is incredible." Or foolishly self-destructive. Then she chuckles. "His reputation is well deserved. But." She loves him, and her shrug suggests that as she toys with her ring. Forgive her a moment of girly-ness. "Thank you though. I'm glad for it too." But then back to work, and the greenrider nods firmly. "Yes. You will. And even though I can't fly drills right now, Kehemath still can, so she can fly with you both and help. And I can fill in the gaps in your teaching. I'll need to dig out my old AWLM notes."

"Whenever we both have time free, I'm there," Kyara affirms, feeling better than just neutral with a side of frustrated for the first time this sevenday. "And I'll need to meet Alys soon, since I'm with you both." A few dragon-shaped shadows flicker over the ground, and she looks up and waves at a few of her classmates, winging off to their weyrs as the afternoon light takes a decidedly evening-ish tint. "I'd better find myself some dinner soon. Chores to do before long. Care to join me?" She gestures in the general direction of the Living Caverns. "For the dinner part, that is," she tacks on, smirking, as Liareth stands and whuffles lightly at Kyara's shirt. The pretty green, apparently, is a bit on the hungry side herself.

Sienna nods, "Yes, you will," she says of meeting Alys with a little smile. Glancing skyward again, the greenrider grins. "I'll never turn down food," she answers honestly, glancing at the younger green with a warm smile. "The dragons could go hunt if you wanted? If she doesn't mind company?"

Off near the edge of the Training Grounds closest to the North Bowl, Kyara stands in conversation with one of her newly appointed mentors, Sienna, as afternoon wanes toward evening. Liareth and Kehemath are here, though the younger green is hungry and presses a restless nose into her lifemate's side. "She wouldn't mind, though I'm sure she'll let Kehemath know as much without any compunctions," Kyara says, rubbing vigorously at Lia's eyeridges. "And as for…oh, hold on. I think we've got company." Two familiar faces are coming their way, and Kyara greets them with a grin, waving largely. "Hi We'b, Vash! Come, join us. We were just discussing dinner." Her stomach takes that moment to give an audible rumble, and she chuckles. "Soon."

Sienna chuckles, stepping away slightly when Liareth moves forward. "Oh?" she asks, glancing around and then smiling as the others approach, lifting one hand to wave, the other against her rounded belly.

"Kyara, loovvee…" We'bey coo's upon his approaches with Vashae a long waggle of fingers at his fellow weyrling, "Sienna, m'dear, how are you?" A hand settles on his hip as he pulls to a stop, "Dinner? How can you be thinking about food, when we've learned to between. Can you imagine, love? Somehow, through nowhere, we end up in some other place." His eyebrows arc upward as his other hand makes pulls together when he says between and pops open when he finishes.

Vashae wiggles her fingers in greeting to Kyara and Sienna, laughing a little at We'bey's comments. "I seriously think I'm going to dream about it for the rest of my life," she agrees with a smile. "How are the two of you?" So casual. "At least they're actually letting us between, We'bey." That remark is the distant descendant of another conversation though, and she doesn't extrapolate on it. "We aren't keeping you from anything other than dinner, are we?"

Kyara's smile for her friends' enthusiasm for between is genuine, but on the small side. "I think it'll be a little while yet until I'm fully used to it, but yes, it's pretty incredible." It isn't that she's taken to it badly; indeed, Kyara's residual trepidation about ::betweening:: from the jump forward has made her almost over-obsessive about getting the mental imagery right. It's just that she still finds it unsettling. Lia's as composed as can be about it, though, so Kyara expects to get over it in fairly short order. "Still not letting us do it as much as the others, but you know that," she points out, letting her smile gain a razor's edge; hints of an earlier conversation with Sienna come out here. "No, not keeping us," she says, glancing at the greenrider for verification. "What's up?"

Sienna smiles warmly at the other weyrlings, nodding her head to their greetings and returning them. Oh yeah, a salute. She puts one of those in there somewhere too. "I'm doing well, thank you. You both?" she asks, tucking away their comments about ::between:: but not remarking further.

"Sienna, m'dear. It's true, we haven't learned as much as the others." We'bey's hand flips over palm up and a finger slides between the two female weyrlings, "Especially them. But surely you could fill us in?" Groomed eyebrows pull upward expectantly, "I believe they explained betweening theory to the bronzers. And we're stuck thinking it's a magic act." Even though none of them do, and his long neck tilts his head toward the greenrider. "Sienna, m'dear, could you explain the theory to us? Especially timing. I find that fascinating. How did you guys do that? 400 turns? Without killing everyone?" For now the others are only glanced at with a smile, gather around children, story time.

Vashae nods her agreement with her clutchsib's comments, and frowns a little. "They favor the bronze and brownriders over the rest of us," the former healer remarks in a dry tone reserved for occasions such as this. "I swear, I could probably go to High Reaches with my eyes closed." There's absolutely no sarcasm there, it's said with complete sincerity. She probably actually does DREAM about it. Her hand even waves a bit, as if to demonstrate how serious she is! "But not much of anywhere else." And then We'bey's asking his questions, and she nods her agreement, although she doesn't add her own comments to it at the moment.

Both the mention of the 400-turn gap she's crossed and the well-ingrained image of High Reaches elicit a slight shiver from Kyara. Both are cold, after all. While the concept of going ::between:: places is easy enough to wrap her mind around, the complexities of doing so through time, while not unfathomable, still tend to make her brain hurt, especially going to a when that hasn't happened yet. "Hmm, all of us getting from then to now without some major mistakes happening was always a point of wonder, for me," she muses aloud. Then she silences to hear Sienna's answer to We'bey…who gets a very slight look of curiosity before it's cast aside.

Sienna arches a brow at We'bey's frequent (even for him!) use of “m'dear.” Suspicious? Slightly but…she's a teacher at heart, and AWLM for several turns before the forward jump. "I would be more than happy to," she says, eager to share her knowledge, especially because it's so /wrong/ they've been left out. "It's all about visuals," she says, tipping her head to Kehemath, "which she is very good at, if you need or want extra practice painting those mental pictures. As for timing…it's another sort of visualization. But there's more to it than just picturing the sun in a different spot. It's more of a gut feeling. A knowing of /when/, and not just where. It's difficult to wrap my head around it but the dragons seem to know - most of them anyway. Some are better at it than others. To get here all we did was follow the markers that were set for us. You can't go somewhere you don't have a visual for. The same goes for a somewhen."

If We'bey is overusing his terms of endearment, which really with him hardly seems possible, he's completely unaware of the faux pa, perching himself upon a rock he listens to Sienna's answer with an arched brow, "If that is the case, how did they…" A finger waggles around as if to say those that jumped back, "Know where to go before they left clues from themselves when they went?" Yes, may all of their heads explode as they wrap their minds around that. Long fingers brush through his shorter than normal hair. "How could anyone have a visual of somewhere no one has been yet?"

A brow furrows as she thinks about the jumps. "Most all of the jumps had one of the Nowtimers that'd come forward with them… That's how, isn't it?" This time the question is asked of Sienna, though she glances at Kyara for confirmation as well. "I don't remember who all was along on the Jump I was in, it seemed pretty…chaotic." At the time. Even for Healer!Vashae. "But how did they make sure that the right landmarks got built, and that they arrived at the right time for the landmarks?" Her head tilts as she waits for the answers, her questions direct, but seemingly harmless. It's just curiosity, right?

"I remember one, at least," Kyara affirms with a nod. "A brownrider, in my case, though I don't recall his name." She looks to Sienna again, brow quirked as she sifts through memories. "I seem to remember a few jumps at night, though I could be wrong; I was pretty out of sorts. How much of it had to do with the Starcrafters plotting star positions and where the sun and the moons would be at given times? Picturing foliage differences for different seasons was part of it, too, I'd imagine. Depending on where the jumps took place from." For her part, the questions are sheer curiosity, seeing as she's always been fascinated by the skies. "And the reference points had to be natural landmarks - in some cases, post-Comet. How…?" She trails off; yep, there goes her brain. Shaking her head at the complexity of it all, she settles for just listening again, chuckling at her own bewilderment.

Sienna chuckles, pushing curls out of her face. "You really should ask W'rin these sorts of nitpicky details. Or…someone else who went. I'm still a bit confused on it myself but I think they followed that goldrider. Um. Rayne. Or something like that. And left clues for themselves on the way there…or on the way back. Honestly I'm a bit confused with how they did it. But that is also likely," she says, nodding at Kyara. "The stars and moons are constant - wouldn't change with the passage of turns - but they're positioned differently at different times of the Turn. I'm afraid I don't have more details for you, since I was pretty distracted at the time. I just went where I was told and didn't ask questions." There's a little smirk for that. "Good practice for our arrival, I suppose."

Vashae mulls over what the greenrider has told them, and exchanges a glance with We'bey, briefly, before looking back to the other two. "That explains a lot more than we knew," she says with a thankful tone in her voice. "Thank you." This information is doubtlessly filed away for later discussion. She tilts her head at Sienna, and hesitates a moment before questioning intentionally lightheartedly, "Back before you jumped, it wasn't normal for the brown and bronzeriders to be…well, given way more attention than the other weyrlings, was it?"

Nodding in commiseration with her bluerider clutchsibling, Kyara leans forward, elbows to knees, letting her hands hang. "If things go as they should, we ought to be learning more about timing it soon, right? Since we'll have to make sure we end up at the right time of day wherever we go." And then Vashae voices her question, and the green weyrling gives a knowing look to Sienna. A path recently tread; now Sienna gets to hear it from two weyrlings.

Sienna shakes her head firmly at Vashae, and anger actually flashes in the usually calm, amicable greenrider's eyes. "No," she says, firm but quiet with a glance around the training grounds. "Abso-effing-lutely not. I was an AWLM and everyone got equal attention. If someone got more it was because they needed it, they needed help with something or more practices, not because of their gender or the color dragon they rode." And she stops herself before going on an angry rant. Just barely though, as things are clearly simmering just below the surface. Controlling her emotions, she shakes her head slowly at Kyara and then shrugs. "Timing it wasn't common teaching in our old curriculum. It's a different thought process to change times. The dragons have to think when and not just where. For between in the same time, you just think where and go there. If that makes sense. It's one more step to time it."

Aha! Another gem of knowledge is squirreled away by Vashae for later inspection, and she nods slowly at Sienna. "They're completely sexist, and colorist here." Is colorist a word? It is now! "If you're not male, or on a brown or bronze…then as far as they're concerned.." She pauses a moment, and lowers her voice a little. "Honestly, ma'am, sometimes we feel like the only thing they're training us for is not to fight Thread, but to be Thread fodder." Blunt and to the point, but she's…far from the only one who thinks so.

Vashae's blunt statement stops Kyara's next question dead, and she snaps her mouth shut, blinking at the bluerider for a moment. Even now, there's that part of her, ready with the benefit of the doubt, coming to the fore. She glances around, even up; no one listening, right? "They… Wait, they wouldn't…do that. Would they? Make sure we're grounded to stay out of the way of the 'stronger dragons,' I can maybe see, but surely they wouldn't go so low as to make sure we don't even come back from the first Fall?" Her eyes widen at the idea; that really would be stupid, even for the chauvinist Reachians. Wouldn't it? Yes? "I know what you mean, Vash, but…" She trails off almost helplessly, reevaluating her own thoughts on the matter. "And yet," she goes on weakly, "if we're not given the same amount of attention, that's precisely what we end up as, no matter how hard we study, no matter how much we push. Thread fodder." Her eyes find Sienna's, and for the first time, the glimmer of what she's been trying to avoid outright appears in her amber stare: fear. At the whole situation. "But that's what you're for; our mentors. Sienna, you said you'd fill in the gaps in our training, so we'll be fine, won't we?" She shrugs expressively. "Will it be enough? How do we catch up?"

Sienna shakes her head firmly, lowering her voice. "That is going to change," she says, low and fierce. "W'rin has gone to speak with - well, I assume he's gone to speak with the Weyrleader. It will change. And if the Weyrleader doesn't change it, then your mentors will change it. Don't worry. You'll be ready for Thread. To fight it and to survive it. They're stupid if they think a weyr can survive with just brown and bronzes flying Thread." She grits her teeth and, at Kehemath's low rumble, takes a deep breath with a hand against her belly. She's calm, she's calm. Shaking her head firmly again, she shrugs at Kyara's statement. "I can't speak for them," she mutters, but I can say you'll get caught up. You're not that far behind, truly. No more than some of us oldtimers are. There is a lot of heavy training going on right now, to get everyone ready. You guys included. You'll catch up. Let W'rin do his thing and then I'm sure we'll come up with a plan. Even if I have to take you back through all of weyrlinghood, we'll get it done. I promise. Trust us, okay? And you'll trust the wings you are placed in. I'm learning that it's wing knowledge that will make the true difference. Not just individual knowledge. So you still have all of that work to do."

"Maybe they're not intentionally making sure we won't come back, but they're sure not doing their part to make sure we do come back." Still blunt, Vashae does feel like she needs to soften it a little. "I don't mean to make you worry, Ky, I just…was taught to assume the worst until proven differently." Sienna's reassurance that what they haven't been taught will be caught up earns a quiet sigh of relief, and a nod from the bluerider. "It's nice to know that if no one else, ma'am," her voice is low again as well, "that you and the others have our backs." Until that happens though, it's likely that the bluerider will tread EXTRA CAUTIOUSLY when it comes to others other than Sienna and W'rin.

Kyara's eyes go vague as Liareth weaves a mind-enfolding mist of reassurance through the turmoil of her lifemate's thoughts, and the green also comes over to touch her nose lightly against Kyara's shoulder with a puff of warm breath. "I do trust you," she tells Sienna, nodding as she wraps and arm around Lia's snout. "And I trust W'rin, K'ane, Teya…the rest of my class…" She makes a wide gesture at the barracks and smiles at Vashae. "It's alright. Worry's been the order of the day for us pretty often, hasn't it? It's just…" That she got a bit of a shock from that line of thought? "Wing knowledge," she echoes Sienna. "Knowledge pooled between everyone in the wing? Knowledge of everyone in the wing? Knowledge of how we all work together during a Fall?" Now a small smile chances onto her mouth again. "All of the above?" She's sure she's missing something.

Sienna nods, "All of the above," she says. "Flying Thread, you have to rely on your wing. No one can do it alone. There will be a lot of wing drills, and really that's where a lot more learning takes place. No one graduates from Weyrlinghood ready to fly Thread. You then have to get into your wing and work with them. W'rin spends candlemarks working on formations. It's a gigantic puzzle, putting people and dragons in the spots where they will do the most good. Where they can - and do - trust the person in front of them. Behind them. Beside them. Listen," she says then, glancing around once more. "If you could all write down questions - thoughts, things you've seen others do that you haven't done, things you're not sure of, and get them to me, we can get started, okay? I don't want to waste time going over what you do know."

"I'm sure we'll be able to fill half a notebook with questions," Kyara comments with a smirk, fingers touching the hip pouch where she carries her lesson notes. "I'll probably get a good chunk written myself before a get to sleep tonight. But…" She glances at the sky; yes, it's gotten darker. "I'm inclined to think dinner would be a good idea before then." The dinner they were going to head for until ::betweening:: came up. "It'd help settle us a little bit, too, I'll bet."

Sienna glances to where Kyara's fingers move, and the greenrider nods. "If you don't mind, I'll head back to my weyr and start digging out my AWLM notes and lessons. I need to brush up because I don't want to miss anything for you guys."

Vashae smiles at both, and nods. "I need to get back to Jov," she admits, a bit sheepishly. "He's probably tried on half of my clothes by now…" A salute is raised to Sienna, and she says, "Thank you, ma'am, very much." For listening, and explaining things to them is likely what she meant. With each their own tasks that need accomplishing, the four part ways.

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