Monaco Bay Weyr - Exercise Yard
Sheltered from the direct heat of the day and the storms of the season by the rocky walls of the weyr, this exercise yard holds a thick layer of lush grass. The yard offers room enough for the entire class of weyrlings to stretch, romp, and practice behind a tall wooden palisade meant to keep the pre-flight dragons from wandering off too far. To the west, just against the palisade, a small coral of ovines and caprines has been erected for convenience. A freshwater pump is installed to the north, against the wall of the caverns, to provide just enough water flow to clean a weyrling dragon after a meal. When the palisade gate is open, there is a clear, stone-lined path leading towards the paradise river and the designated weyrling beach.
Morning comes, as mornings do, with the dawning of a lovely spring morning and the loud thump of a large amount of firestone being delivered to yard just outside the weyrling barracks. Several massive bags have been delivered, the contents pushing the sacking out in haphazard lumpy waves, each one tied securely with ropes to stop premature spillage. From the direction of the beach arrives Kaylis and one of the other assistant weyrlingmasters, both loaded to the chin (literally) with bundles of sacking.
Once there was a little dragon who… grew up real big. Garouth's not even done growing yet, but he's already gone through several spurts that left him gangly in different proportions before settling toward a lean, powerful frame that seems likely to be close to his adult shape. And D'lei? Well, he doesn't have the same sort of growing to do, but he's nevertheless refined his own shape through the exercise and practice of a weyrling. The /thump/ outside is what draws the bronze weyrling from his lair this morning. Garouth's couch is right near the entrance, after all, and the bronze comes out with an inquisitive amber gleam to his eyes. D'lei isn't far behind, pulling a shirt over his head as he comes and then blinking at the sooty heaps. "…huh," he says, followed a moment later by a grin.
"At least this time we'll be ready of anyone sets something on fire, not like we've not had practice recently." The two weyrlingmasters' conversation grows louder as they near the sacking, though almost immediately tails off as first one, then the other, spots the newly emerged weyrling pair. "Good morning!" Kay seems cheerful, almost too cheerful even for her. Sacking is deposited, the other weyrlingmaster giving a polite nod of greeting before heading off to fetch "the next bit" whatever that may be - he certainly doesn't seem to be willing to elaborate before he leaves.
"Good morning!" D'lei replies, with a wave to the two while Garouth pads forward to sniff at the firestone. He nudges some of the pieces with his muzzle, that curious gleam remaining… and D'lei glances back to him, with the distant look of consultation before he blinks and checks back to… oh, just Kay now, the other's gone back. Garouth keeps investigating, though his muzzle remains safely shut… for now, at least. "So… are we just adding to our workouts, or…?" He's got a hopeful look for that 'or'.
Kaylis's grin is… well let's just say it's clear she's got something planned that she's very much looking forward to and that expression doesn't waver even though she scolds Garouth rather like a mischevious child, "Ah ah ah. Back off from that. You get to have fun with it later, but for now…." Now she looks back at D'lei and nods. "Adding to, definitely. For now. Grab a sack." She motions with one foot towards the piles of sacking just brought in, taking the chance to multi-task and rolling up her sleeves at the same time. "You don't mind getting a little dusty do you?"
Garouth lifts his head to Kaylis, and for a moment he just looks at her. Like he's thinking about it, or thinking just how much he's inclined to listen to her. Hmmm… D'lei's gaze flits to his bronze with a silent comment, and Garouth snorts before he steps back and takes a position as sentinel to… watch. D'lei nods, to either himself or his dragon, then grins. "For now, huh?" But later, oh… his grin's in full force as he looks to Garouth again, then back to Kaylis as he goes for that pile of sacks and picks one up. "Wouldn't be the first time," he says of dust. "Nor the last, I'm sure."
Kaylis, for her part, is at least looking like she's about to get stuck in as well. "Definitely not, though today you can blame bad luck. If you'd still been in bed it would have been me and T'ley doing this. To begin with at least. Welcome to the wonderful world of stone sorting!" And that is definitely not something to be as cheerful about as she is. Weirdo. "We need to get all that…" a vague wave at the masses of stone, "sorted and into these. We'll need a few piles. Too big, too small, just right." How very Goldilocks. A quick rummage and she finds a piece judged as 'jut right', "We're looking for bits about this size."
D'lei laughs, and shakes his head to Kaylis. It's early in the morning, just about dawn, and the two of them are out in the yard where there's some heaps of firestone and empty sacks. "Oh, it's not luck. Garouth was hardly going to let such a suspicious thud go without a proper investigation!" And even if he's been called off from an up-close inspection of that thud that woke them, the bronze is still watching with a keen interest as he sits near the entrance to the caverns. D'lei looks to see just what size of stone it is they're searching out, and nods. "Seems simple enough." See also: tedious? He reaches down, looking for a sample piece that he thinks is also the right size. "So like… this?"
Kaylis drops her piece of stone into the sack - one down, MANY to go. "Looks good." She does actually glance over before she speaks, though her attention does wander quickly back to her own sorting, "You could go a bit bigger too, some will probably be able to manage the larger lumps but not the big ones." She pauses, thinks, looks over, "Did that even make sense? Anyway, just grab and sort. Don't want to go smaller than about this…" lump is brandished, "Or bigger than this…" and again. "And try to not breathe in too much dust. In case you don't have too much to think about already."
Quinn is just a little late to the lesson. Looking a little exasperated at her misfortune, her lifemate, whose yellow-green multi-faceted eyes whirl in the former Guard's direction, follows after Quinn as the pair make their way out of the barracks and onto the beach area where D'lei and Garouth are already situated. What the issue may be is evident to the eyes as the growing Green is rather radiant-looking as ever with a freshly-oiled hide. Something that, no doubt, Kith had insisted be done before the pair were able to join in with the lesson. Brushing her blonde hair back into place, Quinn finally approaches Kaylis with her lifemate at her side and offers an awkward rider's salute before offering any kind of apology.
"Got it," D'lei says to Kaylis. Calibration complete! At least… for the first pass of this. He nods. "Fuzzy-edged groups. But I think I get the idea." He reaches for more pieces, focusing first on the ones that are more clearly correct. It's not like there aren't a ton of them to be sorted through, he's not going to run out any time soon! The admonition to not breathe it in makes him laugh, fingers already dusted in black. "I'll try… though passing out from not breathing's probably not a good idea either, hmm?" He grins as he says it. As Quinn and Kith arrive, Garouth rumbles a greeting that makes D'lei turn to look and give his own wave. « The light grows brighter. Welcome. »
"Only if you drop the sack." Kaylis jokes, which is almost an occasion for someone to note on the calendar. But look, a distraction! A newly oiled Kith and lots of dust, perhaps it's lucky that Grellith is asleep and not about to conduct an experiment in how long it takes a green dragon to get coated. Instead it's Kaylis that greets the pair wih an overly cheerful, "Morning!" Stone is lifted, checked, and put into the sack. Monotonous. Repetitive. Boring… for most people, but apparently not Kay. "Grab a sack and you can help us sort things out, though you'll need to keep her away for now. Her turn comes later." Pieces of rock are brandished once more, the optimal size explained.
"Ma'am." A curt response and a nod, and only then does Quinn glance across to D'lei and Garouth and give them a greeting in turn. Kith, however, has forgone the greetings in favour of nosing at one of the sacks of firestone curiously. It's a strange smell and, oh dear, it's -dirty-! Kith snorts as the dust irritates her nostrils and lifts her head. « Why are ours handling this? They will get dirty. » And, by proxy, that means she'll get dirty too! Quinn doesn't answer, but instead ushers her green back so that her newly-oiled hide might be spared from some of the mess, at least. "You'll see, Kith." Quinn responds, returning to one of the sacks and the firestone piled up there. Before she starts to select anything though she pauses and waits for instruction. "Which pieces should I look for?"
"I might've done that the first time I went jogging with one," admits D'lei with a grin. "And… okay, maybe the second. But… I'm sure they only gave us the terrible pieces anyhow, right? One step up from dust." Or down past it, after they slipped his grip. Good thing he got that out of his system before, and now he's doing pretty decent with the task of picking out right-sized pieces. « They must find good ones. » Garouth replies to Kith. « Only some pieces are worthy. » He shifts his position slightly, with a flex of one wing as he offers her a position by his side. « We can watch from here. » Draconic supervision is, of course, essential.
A poor, rejected, piece of rock is tossed over into a pile of too bigness. "About this size." Kay explains quickly to Quinn. "We're not really looking at quality at the moment, that'll come later, but we need to get a good few sacks full so the dragons can have a bit of fun. Plus it never hurts to have a bit of exercise, at least not at the time you're doing it. Tomorrow though…." At this she gives a grin to D'lei, "You run?"
Quinn settles into her new role quickly and efficiently, wanting to maintain good work ethic. Each rock she picks up is inspected briefly then sorted into either a pile or a sack, working quickly to try and catch up with D'lei who had undoubtable had a good headstart. Hands already going back from handling the firestone, it's the mere sight of this that seems to give Kith a reason to snort and retreat across to her favoured clutchbrother. Already the size difference was quite noticeable between them, but that wasn't going to stop her from appearing as the more elegant of the pair. Delicately she seats herself, wings semi-fanned and tail coiled neatly around her forelegs. « Mine will have to bathe once she is finished. Then I will need to be oiled again. » She observes, watching Quinn work the pieces of stone before her attention is so easily caught by Garouth's wing. « You are growing. » She remarks to the Bronze, as if it wasn't obvious enough already.
D'lei glances to Quinn at that question about running, then looks back to Kaylis with a nod. "Yep." He grins. "I've been running ever since they dragged me here. Haven't escaped yet, but hey. These things take time." As did becoming /competent/ at that running, but he did at least get there. Now it's just a matter of keeping in practice! Which a dragon can make challenging, but at least Garouth is also encouraging. In his own particular way, that is. D'lei picks up more bits of the firestone as he talks, sorting them into his sack. Garouth curls his tail in a partial circle around Kith as she seats herself beside him, a perimeter to keep the dust away… at least in principle. « As will mine, » he agrees to her - though his gaze remains on the weyrlings and AWLM as they toil, at least until her comment on his own self draws the bronze's gaze to his clutchmate. « As it should be. » He rumbles, gaze lingering on her for a moment. « That is my nature. »
Kaylis actually seems impressed, "You'd be amazed how many try that, rarely seems to work though. I tried to knit my way to freedom, that didn't work either. Easier than running though." Stone… sack. Sack… stone. Introductions are brief, but she's got a practised ease about her movements that means she doesn't entirely have to pay attention to what she's doing, "What about you, Quinn? Any hobbies you're keeping up with in your spare time?"
Quinn nods in agreement to D'lei. "He's been working hard since he took that white knot. I ran with him in the mornings on the beach and he used to be exhausted before we'd even done half the length of it. Now he's outpacing me." She smirks slightly, adding in just a touch of flattery whilst sorting through the stone. She looks over a particularly long piece, considering it for a moment before deciding to place it in the 'too big' category of rocks. She's been watching D'lei as he works and trying to follow his example especially, but trying to bear in mind that her Kith might not be capable of the same size pieces as Garouth. Kaylis' question catches her attention and she looks up, clearing her throat slightly. "Sparring, mostly. I trained with knives, the bow, staves and hand-to-hand combat before I came to Monaco. There's uh.." She pauses, hesitating in the midst of collecting another rock. ".. I collect shells." She adds quietly. Whilst confessing to those hobbies though, Kith remains content, crooning and clearly happy to have her bronze sibling serve as protection from dust and dirt.
D'lei laughs, though there's no small amount of pride in his expression at Quinn's words. "It's okay, if I start getting too puffed up you can just throw me to the mat a few times," he replies lightly. His sack, on the other hand, is starting to get heavy. He nods about Quinn's collection of shells, with an added, "Goes well with the runs along the shore. Especially when we manage to get out far enough that it hasn't been picked over by everyone and their brother." Garouth's personal influence on protection from dust may be mostly in the mind, but keeping out of the way and keeping clean are very similar. Besides, the dragons /are/ telekinetic, right? So maybe it does work that way.
"Shells?" Not an exclamation of shock, though you could be forgiven for thinking that considering it's immediately followed up with that slightly vacant look that comes when some riders check in with their lifemates. After confirming hers is still asleep Kaylis smiles, "Don't let Grellith hear you say that, he'll start asking how you select them and all manner of things. He collects them too. Well… technically I do and then 'he' runs experiments on them. It's… complicated." She even does the fingerquotes around the 'he', but seems more amused than annoyed by this oddity.
Quinn picks at the loose strands of hair obscuring the left side of her face and tries to compose herself, although she can't help but smile at hearing Grellith's obsession. "I just collect them.. I don't do anything else with them and I only ever keep a few. I keep some that I brought from home too." She notes, tucking another stone into her sack. "I also sometimes pick up pebbles that wash up on the sand if they have an unusual pattern but.. Mostly I just stick to the sparring." She looks to D'lei on that regard, nodding to him. ".. If you want, that offer of training is still open too." Kith may have tuned out of the conversation at this point though, as she's now distracted by preening her own wings. One must look their best, after all, especially when you're trying to impress the rest of class (or just your sibling).
"Yeah," D'lei says to Quinn, with a firm nod. "Now that we've got enough time to ourselves again…" A tilt of his head toward the dragons and their new-found abilities to entertain themselves (well, each other) and stay out of trouble (mostly). "I'd like some more." He crouches down, pushing a hand along the pile to nudge aside rocks and look for more good ones. Hmmm… oh, there we go. Here's some more. Garouth watches Kith preen, with a soft rumble, low on his chest, as he does. His gaze lifts, surveying their surroundings - humans still at work? Good. No threats on the horizon? Excellent - before returning his attentions to his sister, gleaming with oil and careful grooming.
"He'd probably be interested in your criteria for selection." Kaylis' laugh is fond, but definitely long-suffering, fading of as she declares, "There." and starts to tie off her firestone sack. "One down, far too many to go. Need one each, minimum, at the moment. But with the three of us that should be nice and quick." Grabbing another bag she starts again - rock, sack, rock, sack - "You know if you have too much free time I'm sure I could find things to fill it with." She's joking. Probably. Hard to tell with her head downturned as it is.
Quinn doesn't press on the matter of shell-collecting; no doubt Grellith would enjoy grilling her for information about why she picks shells, but the answers would be hard for the woman to drum up. She picks her shells because, well, she just does. Silence is what she adopts now as she notices Kaylis finishing with one sack and instead Quinn opts to pick up the pace so that she won't fall behind in the lesson. « Will we need to take these dirty stones to the moon as well? » Kith suddenly asks Garouth, just a rippling hint of concern in the usual calm pool of her mind. They'd already figured out that food and oil were essential for a long trip, but was firestone too?
"Nope," D'lei is quick to assure Kaylis. "Not a bit of free time, because I've got this training to do, you see…" He's… well, in one sense, he's joking, but in another he actually /is/ planning to do that training and see about learning him some more about hand to hand and knife-work once he's competent enough for it. Hey, he got there with running, right? And he's working on achieving the same in putting-firestone-in-sacks, important part of weyrling training that it is. Garouth tilts his head to Kith's question, watching the sortation and considering for a moment before he answers her. « No. The moon is already bright and pure. We will not need to burn it clean. »
Kaylis grins, sorting as quickly as she can while still conversing, "Well you just let me know if that changes." As she glances up it's clear that she's definitely joking, perhaps the mundanity of the task has managed to relax her for once. She certainly goes about it at some pace, happy to fill and chat as necessary to get the job done.