Fort Weyr - Training Complex
The remnants of a historic collapse are apparent here, as the slope face of the bowl has a predominant downward curvature. It's likely long ago, that a cavern larger than any Fort currently has was where the training complex currently is. A probable cave in triggered a fissure on the bowl wall which lead to a great chunk of it dislodging, thus creating the rounded slope.
Yet, many centuries later, all that remains to give evidence is the pocket made into the bowl wall. It seems that the inhabitants of Fort Weyr have made best of the created space. Rock on the ground proper has long since cleared, but pebbles and loose shale are constantly underfoot. Still, the sprig of some green leafed vegetation isn't too out of the ordinary in these parts, as long as it doesn't get trampled by the comings and goings.
It's clear that this area has been designated for the training of young minds, whether human or dragon. Surrounded by rock on all side, it's like a personal weyr bowl for the youngsters to minimize distraction and danger. The candidate barracks have been built across from the Weyrling barracks, so that one group can educate the next. Finally, placed in the centre of the two entrances of the opposing barracks, near the rock face, is a statue with a memorial plaque.


Another day. Another sunrise and sunset. Another chance to explore and get to know her human better. Xia is rushing about, bounding like a hyper jackaroo (that's what they're called, right? B'ryl told her about the old earth creatures.) She skids to a stop with a momentary pause. Oh. Jackrabbits are the little fuzzy snacks, and kangaroos are the big bite sized dinners (she imagines herself as a full grown dragon, larger then her actual size would allow). « Thanks B'yrl! .. You're rhyming in your thoughts again. » B'yrl glances to Xia from the rock face he's looking over. History, carved in chaos, littered with rock and pebbles. So much to learn. A warm smile is given to her. "Can't help myself." he says, then gives a light smirk. "Dialog gritty as gravel. Does it imbue you with contentment?" Xia flicks her tail. « For now. » B'yrl gives a light chuckle before looking over the collapsed rock face again.

Kimmila strides towards the training grounds, pushing goggles up onto her head. Veering off to one side she passes by the roped off portion of the grounds used for the obstacle course, pausing to make sure things are still in order. Crates, tables, old scraps of leather, large tree trunks…all manner of stuff littered about in random places. Perfect. "Weyrling B'yrl!" she calls, lifting a hand towards her brow in a salute.

Xianeth pauses as Kimmila calls attention, and lifts her head. Oh dear, B'yrl's off in his world of history and stories again. « B'yrl, Wingrider! » B'yrl blinks, then glances over. He snaps to attention, giving a salute rather too practiced and formal. "Apologies, Wingrider Kimmila. My focus is yours." he says, striding forward to her. Xia joins him at his side, with a confident stride herself.

Kimmila waves her hand as she approaches and then stops, eying his green with a practied gaze. "She is looking well. And please, Kimmila." She's not one for titles. But she does like the salutes. "How are you two getting along?"

B'yrl gives a smile honest and bright. "Wonderfully contented. The world as her life to explore, her life my path to take." he answers Kimmila. A nudge at his leg, and down he looks. Xia noses it again, for good measure, and looks up to him. "Xia wishes me to relay that she shall be the better once.." He pauses, looking slightly annoyed. "she fixes my speech impediment." Xia gives a solid nod of her head, and sits up next to B'yrl.

Kimmila tilts her head, giving the green an amused look. "What speech impediment is that, then?"

B'yrl lets out a soft breath. "She is of the mistaken.." Tail swats leg lightly, and is promptly ignored. "belief that elucidation without verbal aesthetics should be the norm. Of vehement disagreement do I contrast with such."

Kimmila blinks a few times, looks at the green and then back at B'yrl. "What?"

B'yrl appears rather deflated at the query. Xia gives the dragon equivalent of a faceplant. Literally. Face, meet dirt. She then thumps B'yrl on the hip strong enough to cause him to stumble a step to the side. He goes into 'dragon talk mode' for a moment, then lets out a light breath. "For you. She.. thinks boring speech is better then .." He's about to continue, but Xia snorts lightly at him. "I was just going to say.. Oh, alright. Boring speech is better then fancy speech." he clarifies for Kimmila.

Kimmila laughs, shaking her head. "Doesn't matter how boring or fancy it is. What matters is that people can understand you. Got to learn to know your audience, and for me, fancy just won't cut it. Now. How's the bond between you two? Any trouble communicating silently, or do you still find yourself talking out loud a lot?"

"Only occasionally now do we have external.. um, do I talk out loud. I don't fall asleep with her now," B'yrl continues, trying to respect Kimmila's wishes for straightforwardness (and to appease Xia), though it looks like he's chewing pebbles with those words, "though tiredness still finds me. Though a habit she's had since she started talking to other dragons. She continues to relay many things they say to her.""

Kimmila nods, slipping her hands into her pockets. "Does that bother you, when she tells you what they say to her?"

B'yrl gives his head a light shake. "I do not. She wishes for me to join in with everything she experiences in life. I'm happy to do so."

Kimmila smiles. "good. Sounds like you two have some good boundaries going on. Now, I want to try something with you two, to see how connected you really are. Don't worry if you struggle, most pairs do at this stage. come over here," she says, nodding to the obstacle course and the line in the snow marking the start.

Xianeth wanders over to the starting line, and B'yrl follows, moving in along side her. "No, I do not believe we'll race. You'd win." B'yrl tells Xia. "And distract me with fireworks." Xia looks about, then up at B'yrl. You were talking about her? Couldn't be.

Kimmila laughs. "Thats not how this works. It isn't a race, it's an exercise in teamwork. You will practice seeing through her eyes, and she through yours." With a grin, she holds up a blindfold. "You will wear this and she will guide you through the course. Try to see through her eyes, and if that doesn't work, then just have her describe what to do. Xianeth, you can walk along the outside of the course but you can not go in. Understand?"

B'yrl takes the blindfold and places it on. Xia squints at B'yrl, and waves her tailtip in front of his eyes. Nope, he can't see. Now she can tickle him! "I can still hear you." B'yrl suddenly says. Her tail flops down suddenly. She really should start thinking to herself sometimes. B'yrl only smiles lightly. "Then I'd miss your thoughts. Alright, where to go." He starts off, and the first obsticle he bumps against. Xia winces slightly. She stares at the path, and he attempts, only to veer off to the side. This occurs several more times before he stops. "This doesn't work." he says quietly. Xia looks down to the ground. She doesn't work well with him? "You're fine. It must be me. Don't look sad." he says, blindfold still on. "I wish to see you happy." Xia looks up, trying to put on a dragon's happy face for B'yrl. "That's better." he says with a light smile.

Kimmila is quiet, watching with interest as the pair works through this very difficult task together.

Xianeth looks about for a moment, then suddenly realizes something. She looks at B'yrl and sticks her tongue out at him. "Now that's rude." he says, giving a light chuckle, then stops. "Wait.." He's a Harper. Words and ideas and concepts run through his head like pictures. Seeing in the mind's eye. But with Xia.. "Yes, let's go to our place. I know it might dirty the lovely floor. I.. a map." He pauses for a few moments, both focusing on something, Xia looking about at the area. "Oh yes. I see now. That's a very nice map. Let me see if I have this now." He starts walking, stops, turns and nearly wanders into a crate. He stops before striking it though. A few more tries, and he straightens himself on the path, then heads on. It's clumsy at first, but he gets the hang of it. By the time he crosses the end, he's walking like he can see.

Kimmila grins, pleased with their progress and meeting him at the end. "Very good! Very, very good. So what did you two figure out during that exercise? How did you manage it?"

B'yrl takes the blindfold off, only to suddenly look a bit dizzy and wobbly. He closes his eyes. "Yes, back to the grasslands." He opens an eye, then lets out a light breath and opens the other. Xia comes running up to him, and he strokes er head lightly. "It was just confusing, seeing two things at once. Kind of. No, more like trying to listen to two people at once." He suddenly looks up at Kimmila. "I appologize." he tells her, getting to her question. "I see our world.. Xia and mine.. as I see my poems. Like pictures in my mind. Our place, a lovely secret place in Xia's mind, comes through as clear as I'm seeing you. We went to that place while I was on the track, and I helped her make a map to put up on a wall when she was looking over the course." Now that he's using 'normal speech', it rolls out without thinking. Though no telling how long that'll last. "She pointed out on the map where I was with her tail, and I followed it." he tells Kimmila.

Kimmila smiles, waving off his apology. "It's a bit disconcerting. It'll take a while to get used to it." She listens with interest, and in the end ooks impressed. "Very nice! Ingenious way of solving that problem, well done. Think you could do it in reverse, with her doing the course with her eyes closed and you guiding her??

B'yrl places a hand behind his head in admitted uncertainty. "I'm not sure. We'll try it though." He and Xia goes through the motions again, this time with Xia attempting the course. It doesn't go quite as well. In fact, Xia stumbles around like she's drunk, and B'yrl keeps rubbing his eyes and squinting at the course. It appears for them it works far better the other way.

Kimmila smiles gently, waiting as they finish. "That's fine, B'yrl. Like I said, this is quite difficult. Why don't you two take a break. You can try it again whenever youd' like."

B'yrl gives a light nod. "Very well. I believe we need practice that way. We never attempted to think in that way before. It.. felt like trying to swim upstream." he tells Kimmila, and sits down with Xia. Xia settles, for a minute, then hops up and heads over to Kimmila, looking up at her. "She wants to know if it's alright to go exploring outside yet."

Kimmila chuckles, looking down at the little dragon. "Outside the weyr? I don't think so, but you'll have to check with M'icha. I'm just a guest, not actually part of staff."

Xianeth appears slightly dissapointed, but goes back over to B'yrl and sits down again. She doesn't stay there for long though, and attempts the course again. This time she has.. the same luck. She pauses, then opens her eyes and glares at B'yrl. "Oh, sorry!" Third attempt, simular results, but with less knocking stuff over. "Oh, wait.. I think I get it." Fourth attempt, complete chaos. Like she's walking through someplace else entirely. "Oops. I suppose I was focusing on the room. Okay, map." Fifth attempt… she finally starts to move in a good direction, though far from perfect. "This is confusing. Like looking through someone else's eyes." B'yrl says. Which is curious, since he's the one looking, and Xia not.

Kimmila waits through the attemmpts, and then she finally raises a hand. "Let's stop for now. I've got sweeps to do, and why don't you guys walk away from this for a bit? You don't want to get frustrated with it, okay?"

They both agree, B'yrl verbally, Xia with a nod. They decide to go and get a quick bite in the barracks until later.


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