the climb to success [cirene]

[tovaana]

takes place the day of "good as blue"

Weyrling Cirene :: Blue Imperath

How much longer. The blues groan grated against Cirene, he had asked many times in the last few minutes. ‘Your memory isn’t that bad.’ She said bitterly, keeping herself as flat against his back as she could, to minimize the wind resistance during their first endurance ride. She had walked out of the Weyrleader’s office and straight to Imperath, deciding they would start then. The team working thing… that would be a struggle in and of itself… she wasn’t even really sure where to start. People were not trustworthy, but maybe she could pretend?

She sighed, monitoring the ache in Imperath’s body with closed eyes. She wasn’t sure how far she could push Imperath, and he had been willing for the challenge – to be better than any of the other blues or equal in stamina to larger dragons. With all his enthusiasm, she guessed it was probably a sign if her dragon was complaining about how long they had been flying. Still… just one more circle around the lake and then they could go back… maybe two more?

Suddenly the fatigue took the blue and he was losing altitude quickly, he had stopped flapping his wings. ‘Can we at least get back to the weyr? I can treat your muscles there.’ No. The blue said grumpily and simply gave up the closer they got to the ground. ‘Wait! Not too fast!’ She gasped, delving into his mind and pushing encouragement to pull up and flap – but there was simply no strength left in the blue. She cursed under her breath and at least guided the blue to swerve into the lake. They skimmed and crashed into the lake with a large splash, and she felt jerked in her riding gear. Suddenly she was sinking. Shards. She unclipped herself in a practiced manner, keeping her cool under the pressure of the water swirling and convering her. She pushed herself off her purply blue and kicked quickly to the surface, feeling heavy with riding gear.

As Cirene’s weight unattached from the blue, it was just enough to get him kicking himself painfully to the edge of the lake where he collapsed in a sprawled out manner. Cirene crawled over to her blue and felt his hot hide. She sighed. 'We better get you back to the weyr.' The blue just growled and shivered and drank the water near his leg. “Don’t drink too much.” Now you moderate my actions? He grumbled, just laying there.

After what seemed like forever, which was more like an hour or closer to two – Imperath was finally able to lift weakly back into the air. It was easier without Cirene on his back, and she walked back to the weyr, soaked through her riding leathers. She shivered as she walked the damp halls, thinking about how she could better gauge Imperath’s limits. Obviously they had pushed too hard. She sighed, veering away toward where the healers would be and requested some oils, herbs, and bit of numb weed specifically for Imperath’s sore condition. When she returned to the weyr, Imperath lay curled in ball on his rock bed, his head on a pillow that she had sewn for him when he was little.

She went to work, feeling his hide with her fingers and with her mind to find the places that would hurt the worst in the morning. It would make normal practices harder as well. She bit her lip thoughtfully, feeling her arms getting sore the longer she rubbed his muscles. She didn’t stop though, pushing herself as Imperath had pushed himself. Cirene didn’t stop until she felt him relax into sleep. She finally changed her clothes, but those would need tending to later… her arms felt like jelly and she wasn’t sure she could fight the nap that was tempting her as she collapsed into her bed.

[tovaana]

A seven day after “good as blue”

Weyrling Cirene :: Blue Imperath

They had taken the next days easy. It had been hard at lessons to not do more and do actually less than they’d normally do. Recovery was a patient process and Cirene had difficulty being patient, especially since Imperath was just as impatient. She had to hold him back and be the patient one for both of them. She had planned on reaching out and starting tentative friendships with her classmates, but realized it was hard since friendships were mostly already set at this point. Cirene kicked herself for not realizing her mistake earlier. On top of this difficulty, she was feeling stressed from holding Imperath back, when she just wanted to let him go, go, go!

Finally after four days after the incident, he seemed to be feeling better and she didn’t hold Imperath back when they did their extra flight lesson. It felt so good to just let him go for a while without monitoring him every moment and telling him to slow down. The dragon also felt the release and flew powerfully around the island once easily and quickly. After the first time around they turned and went the other way around – and she started to pay attention as they did laps back and forth.

This time instead of just pushing him, she asked him. But even then she could feel the purply blue and white dragon continue through the beginning of straining. She realized that she needed to talk to R’get for more guidance on the matter. I can do another lap. Imperath insisted stubbornly. Cirene sighed and showed him the incident from a few days ago. ‘Remember this? I don’t want this happening again. It cripples us, rather than building us.’ She went over the embarrassing lessons that had happened the days after and the blue stubbornly sniffed. I am stronger now, I can go further now. ‘No. I want to talk to R’get first.’ The blonde said forcefully, using willpower behind the meaning to show the blue she meant it. He wasn’t happy about it, but turned and they headed back to their weyr.

A few more days had passed and she heard that R’get’s recovery was going well. This put her in high spirits and approached the Weyrleader again, to see when a good time would be for him to introduce her to R’get. Later that evening he called on her through his overly energetic bronze – which Imperath was not so happy to comply with the message. You’d listen to that sappy bronze? I could hardly tell what he was trying to communicate! ‘It doesn’t matter since I already knew he’d be contacting me, and what it was going to be about.’ She said, glad it was sooner than later.

The introduction was brief and the Weyrleader left when the formalities were out of the way. She was continually disappointed, and yet impressed with the Weyrleader. She’d hoped that her apparent beauty and confidence would have more of an affect on the man, but at the same time she respected how he was treating his important role. The woman played with the idea that perhaps she needed to find A’zael when he was not in a working mood. Perhaps with a thank you bottle of wine - she could make a trip to Benden and perhaps find an odd job to sew a dress and do a swap for a bottle of Benden wine. She'd have to think on this later, wonder if it was worth it in the long run. She wanted to be in his Wing, but she also didn't want to make things awkward if they were supposed to be earning each other's trust - as he mentioned in their first meeting.

On the other hand, R’get was certainly a character. He was full of life and positivity, even despite his current condition. He was energetic and excited that a blue rider was interested in endurance training. In the interaction he gave her more detailed pointers for how she should train Imperath and how to recognize when it was too much. He had suggested by flying distance, rather than speed – keeping a steady pace through the whole time. The length of riding seemed like a faraway goal, but she was determined she and Imperath could do it.

He gave her a certain look, perhaps thinking she was taking everything he said a little too serious. His parting words, “and try to have some fun with the trainings,” seemed jarring and unrelated. She wasn’t sure anyone could be focused and have fun at the same time. She had thanked him and left. He said in another 7-day he’d be willing and able to watch her and Imperath fly to see if her blue’s potential.