Flight Risk
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Devin, Sia
Date Posted: 6th December 2024
Characters: R'lor, O'rosin
Description: R'lor has some concerns about O'rosin's progress
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 1, day 15 of Turn 12
Notes: Mentioned: Cirina
"Have a seat, O'rosin." R'lor gestured to the chair in front of his desk. "We need to talk about your progress in weyrling training."
O'rosin's heart dropped as he sank into the chair. There hadn't been any other mishaps since the one /betweening/ incident, but he knew that he and Aeoluth weren't even close to being star pupils. "Aeoluth is still a lot, but we're doing much better with staying in formations now." He supplied, "And he's waiting for me, which is much better than when we started."
"I'm going to need to see more improvement," R'lor said. "I don't want to hold you back, but right now I don't even want to risk sending you up for Blooding. Barely getting through your lessons is not acceptable. You're a risk to yourself and any future wingmates." He didn't like being harsh but it was part of the job.
O'rosin frowned. "I don't want to cause any harm, sir, but grounding him is going to make our performance in drills and lessons even worse. Can I swap some of the extra lessons we're doing for something else? Maybe some of the riders will let us go with them on Sweeps, or Search, or ...." He paused, unsure exactly of what else the Wings did outside of Threadfall, "He's been good with transporting Cirina around, sometimes even _without_ me, but I dunno if anyone else would feel comfortable with us doing transport."
R'lor sucked in a breath. Cirina was going to get herself killed and he needed to put a stop to that. The Weyrlingmaster studied him for a moment as a thought occurred to him. "Are you failing because you don't want to fly Thread?"
O'rosin caught the expression and hurriedly added, "She doesn't go /between/ or anything by herself, sir. Just to the Dolphin Hall and back. And we've gone to Barrier Lake Weyrhold a few times to visit friends." Her friends, but still, "He's on his best behaviour with her. I know he doesn't remember it, but sometimes it feels like he knows she helped care for him when he first hatched and-" He realized abruptly that he was rambling and shut his mouth.
He considered the next question carefully, uncertain. He hadn't thought about it. He hadn't needed to. Impressing Aeoluth meant he would fight Thread. It was as inevitable as breathing. "No. Flying Thread... it just _is_. Dragons fly when Thread is in the sky. I don't want to be dead weight." Frustration and guilt flickered across his face, "He's so..._much_, sir. He doesn't stop. Moving, thinking. Doing. I can't hold the tiller steady. And I know I'm supposed to, and that everyone else is doin' it just fine. He doesn't mean to be difficult, he just _is_, and I don't know how to make us into what you need us to be.
"But that's why I was thinkin' of sweepriding or something, if we have to put off Threadfall. I know it's not really what we're supposed to be doing, and I don't want to be left behind, but grounding him is only gonna make it worse because he won't have an outlet for the energy to go. It's flying in formation and relaying info and /betweening/, which is what we're supposed to be doin' in Threadfall anyway, but we aren't gonna accidentally hurt anybody."
"Doing more sweeprides isn't going to help you learn to control your dragon," R'lor said. "You'll be doing _extra_ training with an older rider until you can control Aeoluth like any other rider is expected to. He has to _listen_ to you and you have to be able to trust him or you're both going to die the first time you face Thread." R'lor was both afraid for them and angry. He felt like he'd failed them somehow but he had nearly forty other weyrlings to handle and couldn't give O'rosin and his brown the attention they needed.
O'rosin nodded. His fingers fidgeted in his lap, twisting together in restless knots."Yes, sir." He said, his voice low and flat. He didn't know how he would manage extra lessons without falling behind somewhere else. He didn't know what another rider could teach him that the weyrlingstaff couldn't. "Is that all?"
"For now." After a moment R'lor added, "I want you to succeed, O'rosin. I need you to dig deep and figure out how to improve the bond between you and Aeoluth. Okay?"
Last updated on the December 15th 2024